


Spencer Greylock and the Serpent's Heir

by SpiritFighter88



Category: Harry Potter - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark Magic, Gen, Ilvermorny, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Native American Character(s), Quidditch
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-24
Updated: 2017-09-24
Packaged: 2018-10-09 23:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 32,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10424409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritFighter88/pseuds/SpiritFighter88
Summary: Spencer Greylock has just learned he's a wizard and has been accepted into Ilvermorny's School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Now he gets to begin a journey with new friends as secrets and discoveries are made and a powerful dark wizard begins to surface.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, everyone! Ok so I am a huge Harry Potter fan and after watching Fantastic Beasts for the hundredth time I've decided to create my own story centering around young American wizards at Ilvermorny! Of course all rights to Harry Potter and it's world do not belong to me but to it's rightful owner. Enjoy!

**Chapter One: The Boy Who Dreams**

 

Spencer had been having the same dream for the past several nights. It always starts off with him wandering a mountainous desert, the familiar homes and trees of his hometown, Beacon, nowhere in sight. He was stripped of most of his clothing, all he had on was a pair a pants and carried a spear in his hand. He looked like one of those warriors his grandpa would tell him about, the ones from his ancestral tribe-the Pocumtuc. Yeah, he was always sure that that was he appeared like this in his dreams. His grandfather was still heavily involved in their Native American culture and was disappointed that his parents hardly ever educated him or his older sister, Lulu. He always talked about how his family were direct descendants of Chief Greylock, a warrior from their tribe who protected them when the English settlers invaded. Through intermarriage among the broken tribes, their family lost their pure tribal status but his grandfather and Spencer's relatives before him held on to the fact that they were descendants of the protector of the Pocumtuc.

 

What confused him was the mountainous desert he was walking through. Even with the all the tribes eventually intermingling over the years, he knew for a fact that none of them lived in these kinds of areas. They lived in the plains before they were migrated up north where there were a few mountains, but never deserts. He kept wandering around though, trying and failing to hunt some deer with his spear until a huge shadow from the sky would cast over him. He would look up to see a magnificent bird soaring the night sky above him, clouds appearing out of nowhere as rain began to pour down on him. A smile would form on his lips as he watched the giant bird continue crying out it's beautiful song, disappearing into the storm before he would eventually wake up.

 

The sun is out and shining in his face when he opens his eyes, back in his bedroom with his pajamas on. He turns away from the sun's rays before stretching out his body. There's a quick knock on the door before his sister, Lulu, walks in with a toothbrush in her mouth. "Uh-uh, Spencer you are not going to sleep until it's noon again, get up!"

 

Spencer gives his back to her before pulling the pillow over his head. He tries to shut his eyes and ignore her but groans when he feels his blanket being yanked away. "It's summer, when else am I supposed to sleep in?" He asks harshly.

 

"When you finish cleaning the yard like I asked you to three days ago!" She counters, pinching his arms until he jumps up into a sitting position. She doesn't look affected when he manages to slap her hands away. "I mean it Spencer! If you're not pulling weeds out by the time I'm out of the shower I'll make sure everyone at your school knows about your little accident last year when you drank too much lemonade."

 

"You wouldn't," Spencer gasps, suddenly very afraid of his older sister. She doesn't reply, she just arches her eyebrow which apparently is a good substitute for "watch me" before leaving his room. He plops down on his bed and lets out a deep sigh. He loves his sister, he really does, but sometimes he wishes he could just strap her onto a rocket and shoot her to the moon.

 

He gets out of bed and slips into some yard clothes. Thankfully the yard isn't in the worst shape when he starts tending to it. Halfway through he hears the screen door open and he's positive it's Lulu making sure he's doing what she asked. He rolls his eyes but continues to work until he's done a little over an hour later. When he goes back inside his grandpa is reading the paper, as per usual. His grandfather used to be a chef with his own restaurant but he retired a year ago after Lulu graduated from high school. Spencer knew he had hoped to pass the restaurant down to his father, but with him gone and Lulu showing no interest in the cooking field, he grandfather ended up selling it. Now he spends his days reading the newspaper or walking down to the cemetery where his grandma and his parents are buried.

 

"The yard looks great, Spencer," His grandpa says, not taking his eyes off his paper as he drinks his tea. Spencer mutter a thanks as he makes his way to the refrigerator. He grabs something to drink before taking a seat next to his grandpa. He's gulping his beverage down when Lulu walks in, fresh out of the shower.

 

"I'm heading to the grocery store. You need anything, gramps?" She asks. Grandpa shakes his head, taking another sip of his tea. Lulu grabs her keys and flicks Spencer's head. "What about you?"

 

Spencer finishes his drink before wiping his mouth with his sleeve. "Can you drop me off at the park? I promised Mateo I'd meet him there." Lulu lets out an annoyed sigh but motions for him to come with her anyways. The drive to the park is quick and once Spencer spots his friend he doesn't even wait for Lulu to stop the car before he's jumping out and running to the basketball courts. He thinks he hears Lulu say something about driving her crazy but he decides to ignore her like he always does. Mateo catches him running towards him and a big smile comes across his chubby face.

 

"Hey, Spencer!" He greets. "Check what my dad got me from his business trip to Japan!" He stands up to sling off his backpack eagerly before handing it to Spencer. "Go ahead and open it! I wanna see the look on your face," He says, so giddy that Spencer almost wants to wait it out to see his best friend squirm even more. However he finds himself just as excited, even though he tries to hide it. He ends up pulling out several issues of their favorite comic,  _The Alien Kids,_ and gasps as if he's just found a million dollars.

 

"These aren't even out in America yet!" He squeals in a hushed excitement. "Wont be for another three months!"  _The Alien Kids_ is a comic about a group of friends that come in contact with an alien comet that gives them all these awesome powers to save the world with. Mateo's favorite character is the main character, whose power is super strength, while Spencer is more drawn to the best friend, whose powers are more magic based. Immediately him and Mateo find a nice shady spot under a few trees and begin flipping through the pages. Of course they can't understand a word because the comics are in Japanese-which causes Mateo to swear he's going to learn the language instead of Spanish like his parents want him to-but flipping through them is just as amazing.

 

They spend most of their day coming up with their own dialogue for the comics and once their done they start talking about the older issues and what they would do if they were in the comic. Mateo swears he would've stopped the main villain early on, but Spencer's not so sure. The scariest thing he could say he faced was when the thought the boogeyman was living in his closet so he one day mustered up the courage to attack it with a mop (another thing Lulu holds against him). He was six at the time and he hasn't really had any troubles with scary creatures like that since. 

 

They're getting a snow cone from the ice cream truck when Mateo starts talking about school in late August, which was only a few weeks away. "My sister's taking me to get school supplies tomorrow," He says, lapping up the flavored ice with his tongue. "She really likes to wait last minute." Lulu had this theory that she picked up in high school that doing things last minute was better for her because she worked well under pressure. This was an excuse he could never use, unfortunately.

 

"Maybe she's just-" Mateo is cut off when a basketball slams into his face. Hard. The force of the blow knocks him to the ground, his snow cone now all over his shirt. Spencer is quick to level with him as roars of laughter erupt from the basketball courts. Spencer turns to see a few of the older kids laughing at them, Dalbert Marshall no doubt their ring leader. Dalbert was a very mean kid, there wasn't any other way to say it. He was held back in school a few times so now he towers over the rest of the kids his grade, which included him and Mateo.

 

"Are you alright?" Spencer asks, helping his friend up as Mateo pinches his nose. He mumbles something along the lines of "I'm fine," as he searches for something to wipe of the juice that's now staining his shirt. Spencer just watches on. "At least we know why Dalbert won't make the school team."

 

"What was that Greylock?" He hears Dalbert ask before he feels a pair of hands on him. Spencer's back is slammed against a tree and is now face to face with the freckled bully, who must've came over to retrieve the ball. Spencer is slowly trying to gather his thoughts when Dalbert slams him into the tree again. "I asked you a question!"

 

"Dalbert!" a man's voice calls. Spencer feels Dalbert release him before they both turn to see his dad. Mr. Marshall didn't even seem fazed to see his son picking on another kid, smiling as he waved at Dalbert. "Come on, your mom's getting supper ready!" Dalbert returns the grin before shoving Spencer to the ground.

 

"I'll see you soon, Greylock," Dalbert promises under his breath, grabbing his ball and his backpack as he walks away. Spencer feels Mateo next to him, but he's so mad that all he can do is glare at the giant boy walking away. Oh how he wishes he could just...he could just-

 

_BWOOSH_

 

Spencer snaps out of his anger when the sound of Dalbert's backpack exploding, along with Dalbert's high pitched scream, reaches his ears. His eyes widen as he watches the flaming papers flying everywhere and he quickly gets to his feet. He had wanted...wanted to-

 

"Spencer," he feels a pair of hands urgently on his shoulders and he looks up to see Lulu, her eyes just as wide. "We need to go. Now." Before Spencer can say anything, before he can even say goodbye to Mateo, Lulu was pushing him to the car. He turns around just in time to see Dalbert crying in his father's arms. Mr. Marshall isn't focused on his son though. He's looking right at Spencer and it's terrifying. Lulu practically throws him in the back seat as she jumps in the car. She drives away just as Mr. Marshall attempts to walk over to them.

 

The car ride is quiet, even though Spencer can hear Lulu mumble to herself. He can also feel her watching him through the rearview mirror occasionally. Once she pulls into their driveway, he gets out of the car and goes straight into the house. He's about to go upstairs to change when he feels his sister turn him around and pull him into a hug. "Everything is going to be ok," she whispers, kissing the top of his head before heading to the kitchen. Now he's confused, Lulu never kisses him. It isn't until he's changing his clothes in his room when he starts replaying the events in his head.

 

"Did...did I blow up the backpack?"


	2. Learning The Truth

 

After the events at the park, Spencer spent the remainder of his evening trying not to draw too much attention to himself, even if the only people around him were Lulu and his grandfather. Speaking of which, he couldn't help but notice how strange Lulu has been acting. At the dinner table he would catch her watching him with a worried expression,and these were suspicions he voiced to Mateo when the other male called him after dinner.

 

"It's just...weird, Mateo," Spencer confesses. "Lulu always, ALWAYS, cracks jokes during dinner. Instead all she did was look at me. I think she was going to cry at one point."

 

"Lulu? Crying?" Mateo asks, proving he was listening to his complaints. "Wow, she must really be upset about Dalbert messing with you."

 

"Well," Spencer starts. He's about to mention the backpack when it dawns on him that Mateo hasn't even mentioned the incident. "Hey, Mateo, did you see what happened to Dalbert when he walked away from us?

 

"Can't say I did," Mateo reveals. "I was cleaning my shirt and when I looked up Lulu was dragging you to her car and Dalbert was with his dad. Why?"

 

"Nothing," Spencer says.

 

"Alright," Mateo says. "I should go though my mom hates when I'm on my phone this late. I'll text you tomorrow." Spencer says goodnight and hangs up, putting his phone on his desk before changing into pajamas. It was hard to go to sleep but when he finally did he had the same dream he had the other night. He's back in the desert this time running along a cliff's edge, the magnificent bird that was always present was flying in the skies next to him. With each flap of it's wings thunderous clouds filled the sky and it wasn't long before Spencer was drenched in rain. He didn't mind though, he actually preferred this kind of weather as he runs across the cliffs. The giant bird lets out a cry that's music to Spencer's ears as his legs continue to help him speed towards a bright light. Knowing that source of light to be his goal, Spencer continues to run faster and faster, until he's finally consumed by it. The last thing he hears is the bird's song before he wakes up.

 

Spencer sits up from his bed to check his phone for the time. It's two o'clock in the morning, but before he can question why he's up, he hears his sister and his grandfather's voices coming from the living room. Quietly, he walks out of his room and stops at the top of the staircase, where his squats down to hear better.

 

"You didn't see it, grandpa," Lulu says, concern in her voice. "The kid's bag just blew up! And his father _saw_ the way Spencer was looking at the kid."

 

"I still think it could be just a coincidence, Lulu," His grandfather says, voice still calm. "Your mother's bloodline has proven that what you're talking about is very rare-"

 

"But it's not impossible," Lulu interrupts. "Mom proved that. Even if it skipped me, he could still be gifted." Spencer could hear the sadness in his sister's voice. What had skipped her? And what did mom have to do with anything?

 

"Well," his grandfather says. "Is it such a bad thing if he is?"

 

"You don't know what's happening out there," She says. "There's disappearances, and the Masked Shadow has been spotted by MACUSA. It's safer if Spencer lives as a No-Maj." Now what's a No-Maj? Or a MACUSA? Did he even want to know what a Masked Shadow was? He almost wanted to confront the pair, ask them what the heck they were walking about.

 

"If he is, will you hide it from him?" His grandfather asks. There's a long silence and Spencer fights the urge to lift his head to peak at the scene below.

 

"Of course not," Lulu says, finally. "This would be the greatest thing to happen to him, I'm just worried is all."

 

"As any older sister should," He says. "Now let's go to bed. It's very late." That's Spencer's cue to sneak back into his room. He's in his bed as he listens for Lulu's bedroom door to close shut for the night. If he thought he had trouble getting to sleep earlier, now it was really impossible. He was just so confused by so many things said between Lulu and his grandfather. One thing was for sure though, something could be happening to him. And whatever it was, his sister was fearing for him.

 

The next morning wasn't as awkward as dinner had been. His sister seemed to be in better spirits as they left the house to go shopping for school supplies, but he could tell something was up when she scanned the blue sky before they got in the car. He figured things were alright, though, so he sent a text to Mateo to see if he wanted to hang out after they got back to the mall. The other male responded quickly saying he couldn't because his parents were making him and his two older brothers clean the house. Understanding his best friend's situation, Spencer expressed it was alright in his next message and that they could just hang out tomorrow.

 

"Alright," Lulu says, finding a good parking spot near the mall's entrance. "What should we hit up first?"

 

"Well," Spencer says, trying to make up a list in his head. "Pencils and paper is probably a good start."

 

Lulu makes a face before shaking her head. "Nah, I don't think you'll need that. What else?"

 

Spencer arched his eyebrow. Why wouldn't he need pencils for school? Or paper? Literally everything is written on paper, it's not like he went to some fancy private school. He just went to a normal public middle school. "Ok, um, what about a backpack?"

 

"Honestly I don't no if they use regular backpacks," Lulu admits. Spencer has no idea who 'they' were but he knew the kids in his grade still used backpacks. "We'll get one just in case."

 

"Lulu, what the hell are you talking about?" He asks.

 

Lulu gives him a look before quickly reaching over to pinch his arm hard. "Watch your mouth," she warns, before her face gets all bright. "Oh! Let's get you some new clothes! You had a pretty big growth spurt this summer so you'll definitely need some new clothes." With her mind seemingly decided, Lulu got out of the car and Spencer followed suit. Beacon's mall wasn't that impressive when compared to the malls in other cities but it had enough stores to browse and have a taste, he supposed. He didn't really care about clothes so he'd just let Lulu pick out a bunch of options and then he'd go to the dressing rooms and try them on. As he looks over his new outfit in the dressing stall's mirror, he can't help but wonder what's going on with Lulu. Yesterday she seemed about ready to cry for no apparent reason and now she was acting incredibly weird about getting school supplies. He couldn't figure it out and he worried that he definitely should soon before it blows up in his face.

 

"What do you think?" He asks, stepping out of the stall. He gets not answer, however, because Lulu isn't there. It only takes him a few seconds to scan the store to see she's on the opposite side getting him even more clothes. He rolls his eyes but walks to her anyways. He's halfway towards her when he feels a strong arm grab him and yank him around. He didn't know what he expected, but it definitely wasn't supposed to be Mr. Marshall. Spencer still didn't know if he blew up Dalbert's backpack yesterday, but if he somehow did Mr. Marshall saw the whole thing.

 

"What kind of freak are you?" Mr. Marshall demands. Spencer was terrified and had no idea how to answer that, plus his shoulder was starting to hurt from his grip. He was beginning to panic when the pressure from Mr. Marshall's grip suddenly lifted and Lulu was standing right in between them.

 

"Touch my brother again and I'll rip your arm off," She threatens, her voice full of venom. Lulu had started taking kickboxing classes to stay in shape since she graduated and Spencer knew all too well how hard her punches were. Mr. Marshall should be grateful he wasn't hogging up the bathroom mirror, that's when she usually gets crazy.

 

"There is something wrong with that boy," Mr. Marshall says, darting his eyes to Spencer. "You saw what he did to my poor son, he's still shaken up about it!"

 

Spencer had to admit that he was glad to know Dalbert wasn't in the best of moods but he was even more glad Lulu was between him and his angry father. "I don't know what you're talking about," Lulu defends. "The only thing I saw was your bully of a son messing with my brother and his little friend. You want to talk about that, Mr. Marshall?"

 

Mr. Marshall was glaring at Lulu, who wasn't backing down either. It was at that moment that Spencer noticed the crowd started to gather around them. Mr. Marshall noticed too and must have realized that he was in the middle of a store, threatening a young woman and her kid brother because he begins to make his leave. "This isn't over," He warns, finally turning to walk out of the store. Spencer and Lulu stand still for a few more moments until the manager of the store comes to see if they're ok. Lulu waves her away before she turns to Spencer.

 

"Why don't we head home?" She asks. Spencer never agreed to something so passionately in his life. It didn't matter that they were walking out of the mall with no school supplies, he would deal with it later. The drive home was quiet but the atmosphere in the car was different. As if Lulu couldn't weird him out anymore, it felt as if she was getting nervous about getting home. Her hands kept gripping the steering wheel and she would bite her lower lips a few times. Maybe it had to do with the fact that she almost got in a fight with Dalbert's father, but Lulu's the type to rant if something like that was bothering her.

 

The sun is setting when they're finally pulling into their driveway. Spencer's been occupying himself with Fruit Ninja so he's not really paying attention when Lulu suddenly squeals. "Oh my god!" She cries out. "Oh my god, it's literally right there!"

 

"What? What?!" Spencer questions. By this point he's terrified of his sister but regardless he looks out the window anyways. Perched on top of their roof is a reddish-brown owl with a letter stuck in it's beak. Spencer arches his eyebrow as he looks at his sister, who's still freaking out. "I never knew you were such a fan of owls, Lulu."

 

"Shut up and get out of the car!" She demands, getting out herself. Spencer does as he's told and as soon as he rounds the car the owl flies toward him and drops the letter in his hands before flying away. "Oh! I wanted to take a picture before it flew away!"

 

"The letter is for me," Spencer observes, turning the object over. He looks up at Lulu who is wiping a tear away.

 

"Open it silly!" She says, laughing and crying at the same time. Spencer is tempted to wait even more to see how long she'd cry but he's even more tempted to see what's making her cry in the first place. He opens up the letter and widens his eyes.

 

**ILVERMORNY SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDRY**

**Headmistress: Adira Hazazi (Order of Merlin, Second Class, Grand Sorceress)**

**Dear Mr. Greylock,**

**We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizadry.**

**Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment**

**Term begins August 27th. We await your owl no later by August 3rd.**

 

**Yours sincerely,**

**Mattias Olson**

**Deputy Headmaster**

 

Spencer was confused when he finished reading the letter. He's never heard of a school called Ilvermorny before. Not that he's an expert on schools or anything, but he's positive he'd know of one when they delivered letters via owls. "What's this all about?" He asks. "Why does it mention Witchcraft and Wizardry? Is this a magician school or something?"

 

"Oh it's even better than that, little brother," Lulu says, resting her hand on his shoulder. "You're a wizard, Spencer.

.

.

.

Spencer was now sitting on his living room couch staring at Lulu and his grandfather. He's glad things like Dalbert's backpack blowing up were starting to make sense, but he still had so many questions. Luckily his relatives were more than happy to answer him.

 

"So let me get this straight," He says. "I'm a wizard because mom was a witch? What about dad?"

 

"Dad was just a No-Maj," Lulu says. "No-Maj is short for no magic, by the way."

 

"Now don't sell your father short," his grandfather defended. "Your mother may have been the one with the magic in her veins but your father, along with you and your sister, are direct descendants of a great warrior of our tribe. So great the mountain your new school resides on was named after him."

 

"True," Lulu admitted. "It's called Mount Greylock. Granted the school's been there since before the mountain was named but dad did come from some pretty badass NoMaj's, I'll admit."

 

"Ok," Spencer says. "So how come you were so surprised that I can do magic if mom could?"

 

"We just assumed you'd be a Squib like me," Lulu confesses. "A squib is someone who is born of magical parents yet has no magical powers. Unfortunately Squibs were very common on mom's side of the family. In fact, the last wizard before mom was alive during the Civil War. After I didn't get a letter, mom figured that it was just going to skip us altogether."

 

Now that they mentioned it, Spencer had very faint memories of Lulu waiting by the window all summer when she was eleven and how sad she was once she started school. "Are you ok with it? Me being a wizard and all?" Him and Lulu messed around with each other a lot but he didn't want to upset her by being something she wanted to be so bad.

 

"Of course, Spencer!" She says, laughing. "Yeah, I was upset when I was younger, but since I could still be apart of the magical world, mom showed me a lot of things before she died. It's thanks to her that I got a job working for Mr. Bridges."

 

"Who's he?" He asks, the name not sounding familiar.

 

"Oh, Mr. Bridges makes the best brooms in the whole country. He was quite the quidditch star when he was younger but don't remind him, he can go on about it for days," She teases, looking at the second paper attached to his letter. "We'll pay him a visit when we go to Horizon Alley tomorrow to shop for your supplies. We can definitely find everything on the list there."

 

"I take it that's why we didn't get any supplies today?" He asks.

 

Lulu grins at him. "I saw the way you blew up that backpack, Spencer, there's no way you were going to end up a Squib like me. Gramps just insisted I act like everything was normal until you got your letter."

 

After that they have dinner and Lulu congratulates him one more time before they all go back to bed, saying how much mom and dad would be proud of him. He spends a good two hours trying to research anything he can about Ilvermorny or magic in general but only comes up with videos of people doing magic tricks that are obviously fake. Still, he couldn't help but feel excited. It was like he was a character straight off _The Alien Kids_ only he wasn't some kid who was gifted powers from an alien comet from space.

 

He was a wizard.


	3. Chapter Three: Horizon Alley

"So Lulu just decided to suddenly enroll you to a private boarding school? Just like that?" Mateo asks, his voice full of disbelief through Spencer's phone. It's not like he didn't believe Spencer, it's just that he didn't want to. The two of them had been talking about school starting nonstop in the latter half of the summer and now all of that was changing with Spencer going to Ilvermorny. He hated that he had to lie to his best friend, they told each other practically everything, but Lulu told him that No Maj's couldn't know about the magical world.

 

"But gramps knows about the magical world," He tried to argue.

 

"Yeah well he kind of had to on the account that his son was married to a witch," She shot back. "So until you're of age to drop down on one knee for your little friend, you're going to tell him nothing."

 

Later he realized that Lulu probably did have a point. Unless a No-Maj was related to a magical person, it would be too risky for them to know about it. A perfect example was how Mr. Marshall acted when he saw Spencer blow up Dalbert's backpack. So despite hating himself for it, he called his friend to break the news.

 

"Spencer you do realize you're making me start middle school all by myself right?" Mateo reminds him.

 

"How do you think I feel?" Spencer asks. At least Mateo will know what to expect when school started for him. Spencer had no clue what he was going to walk into come August 29th.

 

"How is Lulu even paying for it? I thought private schools were expensive," he says.

 

"I'm on a scholarship," Spencer answers, having a whole list of excuses given to him by his older sister. He hears Mateo sigh on the other line.

 

"Well, at least we still have the rest of the summer," He says, finally dropping the subject. The two then changed the conversation, talking about what was happening in their favorite tv shows and whatnot before Lulu showed and up and Spencer had to hang up. With only a week left before he was expected to go to Ilvermorny, him and his sister were going to attempt shopping for supplies once again, only this time she was taking him to Horizon Alley, a place he'd never heard of before.

 

"You're finally going to see where I work, Spencer!" Lulu tells him happily as she starts driving away from their neighborhood. The night he found out he was a wizard was also the night he found out Lulu didn't work as a secretary at a law firm like he originally believed. Last night he tried researching Horizon Alley but, just like his attempts at researching Ilvermorny, came out empty handed. The drive was a bit longer, his sister told him they were heading to Newburgh, a city just across the Hudson River. He napped for most of the trip and didn't wake up until his sister was shaking him awake. "Spencer, wake up. We're here!" Spencer rubbed his eyes before getting out of the car. The street they were on was fairly busy but nothing seemed too out of the ordinary. He followed Lulu into a decent sized cafe called _Enchanted Forest._ The entire cafe seemed to be straight out of a fairy tale book as he walked through the room with Lulu, who waved at a patron every so often. They took the stairs to the second floor and made their way to an old woman at a table in front of a large mirror.

 

"Good morning, Olga!" Lulu greeted. The woman looked up and raised her chin a greeting. Without saying a word she took out a large stick and tapped on the mirror, which suddenly began to ripple madly. Olga must have noticed the amazement on his face as he she finally cleared her throat.

 

"Boy's never seen an enchanted mirror before?" she asks, her eyes narrowing at Spencer.

 

"He's my little brother," Lulu explained. "Who recently just got his acceptance letter to Ilvermorny." Olga's eyes show a bit of surprise before she looks at his sister.

 

"Didn't expect much after it skipped you," she said, chuckling a bit before going back to her paper. Spencer could tell that comment rubbed Lulu the wrong way but she ignored it with charm.

 

"Tell the kids I said 'hello,' Olga," She says, grabbing Spencer's hand. "Let's go, Spencer."

 

Spencer tried to resist a bit, not wanting to go near his rippling reflection. "Lulu, wait-" He never got to finish his protest before Lulu pulled him _through_ the mirror and brought him to the other side of it, which happened to be an alley outside of the building. Spencer could feel his mouth drop as his sister pulled him down the steps onto the main street of the alley. It was filled with some many people dressed in fancy robes and pointed hats. He jumped when a man suddenly appeared out of thin air and then again when a woman does a few moments later.

 

"Alright," Lulu says, pulling out Spencer's list of supplies. "We should get your robes first- I've always _loved_ Ilvermorny's colors- then we'll hit the bookstore and afterwards we'll visit Mr. Bridges. You won't be allowed your own broom until your second year but when you do I get a killer discount." His mind was still stuck on owning a broom before he realized Lulu was making her way to the first store, causing him to run after her.

 

Spencer learned a lot while him and his sister shopped for his school supplies. He learned that wizards and witches had their own type of money and that Lulu opened an account with the _Magical Bank of America_ since it was the only bank that didn't charge for currency exchange. He also learned that Lulu had far more magical items in her possession, including her purse, which was about the size of his head yet was able to fit all his robes, books, and other supplies.

 

He was half expecting her to tell him the car was magical when he asked if she made the long drive to her job every day. He voiced his expectations to her as they made their way to _Bolverk's Extraordinary Quidditch Supplies,_ the store she apparently worked at. "The car belonged to dad, nothing special. Mom's could go invisible though," she said, trailing off. Their parents were in their mother's car when they died. Being here made him miss them, he wanted so badly to see how they'd react knowing he was a wizard and was now shopping for his school supplies. At least he has Lulu and his grandfather, he reminds himself,  there's some kids out there who lose their parents and have no one.

 

When they made it inside the store, a loud laugh filled the entire room and Spencer turned to see a large man slumped over the counter as he stomped his foot and continued to laugh. Lulu rolls her eyes and grins at the man Spencer assumes to be Bolverk Bridges. "Bollie, can you try not scaring away the customers with that roar you call a laugh!" The man wiped the tears from his eyes as he stood up and grinned widely.

 

"LULU!" He yells wrapping his older sister in a tight bear hug. "What brings you here, it's your day off?"

 

"Shopping for my little brother, Spencer," She explains. "He's going to be attending Ilvermorny." The large man looks down at him and suddenly Spencer feels extremely small.

 

"Congratulations!" He says, gripping Spencer's shoulder and shaking him like a rag doll. "You've come to the right spot for a broom, young man. What position do you play?"

 

"Spencer arched his eyebrow. "Position?" He glanced at Lulu, hoping she'd take the hint and rescue him.

 

"Bollie, he has no idea what you're talking about," she says. Bolverk's eyes widen with surprise.

 

"You've never heard of Quidditch?!" He squeals, something Spencer would never expect a man of his size capable of doing. "In my prime I played for the Florida Skunk Apes! I was a Beater, you see, a great one-"

 

"Give it a rest, Bolverk," a man says, walking up to the counter. He's dressed in a really nice looking coat, but Spencer can't help but notice a totem necklace of a bird around his neck. This man was Native, just like him and his sister.

 

Lulu apparently knew the man and smiled at him. "Where's the rest of your tribe, Mr. Tsoshie?"

 

"Oh they're all over the place," He says, motioning outside with his hands. "They're all old enough to do their own shopping. I just came in here to pay for their repairs from yesterday. All they can talk about is defending their title."

 

"Who wouldn't," Bolverk quirps, walking behind the counter to ring up Mr. Tsoshie.

 

Lulu puts her arm around Spencer and pulls him close. "Mr. Tsoshie I'd like you to meet my little brother, Spencer. Spencer, this is Sakima Tsoshie, House Speaker for the MACUSA." Spencer smiled as he shook the man's hand. His sister explained how the MACUSA were the magical government so he figured Mr. Tsoshie was an improtant person. "Spencer will be attending Ilvermorny this year," Lulu says, smiling.

 

Mr. Tsoshie shares the same look of surprise Olga and Bolverk had. "That's wonderful!"

 

"Yeah turns out I was the only disappointment when it came to magical abilities," Lulu mumbles. Mr. Tsoshie quickly looks up and sternly stares at Lulu, reminding him of his own dad when he was younger.

 

"Stop that thinking right now," He tells her. "No one here thinks that about you and your parents would be the most proud of you than they could ever be."

 

Lulu blushes and is saved when the front door to shop opens. Spencer turned to see a beautiful young girl, only a few years older than him, make her way to them all, her long black hair slicked back into a ponytail that swung elegantly with her stride. "Dad Aha is seriously about to catch my fist in his mouth and Yuma took off with Olive somewhere even though it was his turn to watch Mukki."

 

Mr. Tsoshie laughed as he pulled the girl into a hug. "Spencer this young girl-who apparently forgot how to use her manners- is my daughter, Maralah-"

 

"Just call me Mara," She adds.

 

"-This will be her fourth year attending Ilvermorny. Maralah, this is Spencer." Maralah nodded towards him and Spencer realized he couldn't find the words to speak so he just mimicked her action. She turns to Lulu and smiles.

 

"Hey, Lulu," she greets. "Please tell me you were the one to tune up my broom? It just doesn't fly the same if anyone else touches it." Bolverk grunts unapprovingly but doesn't say anything as Lulu returns her grin.

 

"You know I got you, girl," she says, slapping hands with the younger girl. Spencer has never envied his sister more in his entire life. "We should get going though, my grandfather will be expecting us."

 

"Take care, you two" Mr. Tsoshie said, waving goodbye along with Bolverk.

 

"Catch you later, Spencer," Mara says, winking at him before her and her father turn their attention to Bolverk. He doesn't realize that he's been holding his breath until he's outside the store and him and Lulu are making their way back to the cafe they came from.

 

On the car ride back, Spencer asks if Mr. Tsoshie knew their parents well. "Oh yeah, mom introduced Mr. Tsoshie to his wife," she explains. "He was around all the time before you were born but then him and wife decided to have a bunch of kids and then he became Speaker of the house, things just got really busy. He's a cool dude though, helped me and gramps out a lot after mom and dad died. He teaches Apparition at Ilvermorny, I think, maybe you'll see him."

 

"What's Apparition?" He asks.

 

"It's how that wizard was able to appear out of thin air," she says.

 

"Ah, so I'm going to learn how to do that?"

 

"Not yet," She says. "It's the magical world's equivalent to driving. You need to take a test when you're of age."

 

"Lame," He mumbles, smirking when his sister pinches him. He yawns loudly as he looks out at the setting sun before him. Soon he'd be going to Ilvermorny. Hopefully he gets to learn to fly a broom or learn some cool spells. Seeing Mara again would be pretty nice, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll admit I probably could've come up with something more creative than Horizon Alley but it is what it is. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think of the story so far.


	4. The Ilvermorny Express

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer meets new friends and new rivals.

Spencer had the same dream with the giant, four-winged bird. Only this time, he was riding on top of the creature as it soared the sky, gripping it's feathers so he wouldn't fall into the darkness below him. The rain hitting his face felt as real as ever as he tries desperately to see what's in front of him, but he can't look forward too long without wiping the water off his eyes. The bird's cry is beautiful as it flies through the rain clouds, its powerful wings seeming to make the storm worse and worse with each flap. There's a huge rush of adrenaline flowing through Spencer's body, his lips shaping into a grin as the wind blows through his hair. It's like this, high up in the air, that he feels at home. He feels the bird start to descend and Spencer looks to see a bright ray of sunshine pierce through the storm clouds, illuminating a giant castle on top of a high mountain. Although he's never seen the castle before in his life, Spencer knows exactly what it is.

 

"Ilvermorny," He whispers.

.

.

Spencer wakes up in an unfamiliar room, lying in a bed that's not his. He turns to look at Lulu sleeping gently in the other bed of the hotel they're staying in before adjusting himself under the covers. The train that was going to take Spencer to Ilvermorny left from Grand Central Station in New York City so on the Saturday before he was to start school he said his goodbyes to Mateo and his grandfather and then packed his stuff into Lulu's car before she drove off. Saying goodbye to Mateo was hard. Lulu explained how cellphones didn't work properly at Ilvermorny so it was difficult explaining to Mateo that he might not be in contact with him as often as he thought. Although his friend was confused, he still gifted Spencer with his favorite issue of  _Alien Kids_. His grandfather gave him his dad's old compass and told him how he was proud of him and to remember what it means to be a Greylock, whatever that means.

 

He glances at the digital alarm clock on the nightstand by him. It shows _1:30 a.m._ and Spencer knows that in a few hours Lulu would wake up and start getting ready. Something stirs by his leg. He lifts his head from his pillow slightly to see a small patch of white fur curled up by his knee. Before embarking on their road trip to New York, Lulu stopped by Horizon Alley so Bolverk could give Spencer his gift: A Persian Longhair kitten. Spencer decided to name her Monsoon, her sapphire eyes reminding him of the storm he did a report about last year in fifth grade. Plus, with all these dreams of storms, he thought it fit perfectly. Now with his first friend since discovering he was a wizard, Spencer wasn't too afraid to go to the station once the sun came up.

.

.

"You're lost," Spencer declares, pulling his luggage on a cart behind him. His statement is to his brilliant sister, who is walking ahead of him with Monsoon in her arms. The subway from their hotel was only supposed to take about forty five minutes to get to the station, but after it was delayed they had to take a detour which took another two hours before they finally reached the train station, thirty minutes before his train to Ilvermorny was supposed to leave. Starting to panic, Spencer starts to question his sister when she told him they were looking for platform 9 3/4. "Seriously, Lulu, you're making no sense!"

 

Lulu gives him a look from behind her shoulder, his complaining probably getting to her as she gently puts Monsoon into her cage. "Exactly when did finding out you're a wizard about to go to hidden school to learn magic ever make sense to you?" She asks. He doesn't respond, instead he just crosses his arms.  _Well, she has a point,_ he thinks to himself as she grabs him by the shoulders. "Now, where are we. And before you say something smart I don't mean 'Central Station,'" she says, knowing exactly that that was going to be his response. "I mean where are we _in_ the station?"

 

Spencer looks around, taking notice of all the suits hurriedly passing by. "We're in between platforms 9 and 10," He answers. Lulu grins and pats his shoulder.

 

"Right!" She says, hooking her arm through his, grabbing his cart with her other. "Now shut up and get ready to make some sense!" Before he could even question what his sister had just said, Lulu is yanking him forward, pulling him towards a pillar with no signs of stopping.

 

"LULU, NO-" He's cut off when, like the mirror at the _Enchanted Forest_ cafe, they go through the pillar and enter a whole other hidden part of the station. The train in front of him has a bold **Ilvermorny Express** printed in the front with four strange looking creatures surrounding it. The people rushing around him are dressed different than the suits on the other sides. The older ones are in fancy robes, similar to the ones he has to wear to school, with some of them even sporting pointed hats. There were kids all around him rushing to get their things packed into one of the storage compartments. Lulu heads to the nearest one, packing all his stuff minus Monsoon's cage and a small, rectangular box that he's never seen before. "What's that?" He asks.

 

Lulu smiles, and it's the softest smile he thinks he's ever seen on his sister's face. She opens the box and pulls out a long stick, about ten inches in size and appears to be a bit springy, before handing it to Spencer. He quickly feels a comforting feeling, something he hadn't felt in a long time. "This was mom's wand," she says. "White River Monster spine with Elder wood. From what I've read about wands, they're pretty loyal but I figured that it shouldn't rot away in the garage when it's in such good condition. If something doesn't feel right though I can take it back and get you your own."

 

"No," Spencer says, smiling down at the wand. It feels like his mother, like when she'd rub circles on his back when he was younger, like when she'd kiss the top of his head before tucking him into bed. With his mother's wand and his father's compass, it almost felt that his parents would also be with him on this brand new journey. The sound of the train's whistle made them both jump and before Spencer could say anything he was pulled into Lulu in a tight hug.

 

"Ugh, I told myself I wouldn't cry," she sniffs. "I'm going to be sending you a package soon, as my little gift, ok?"

 

"You don't have to, Lulu," Spencer tries to say, but his voice is muffled in her chest.

 

"I know that, dork," She says, finally pulling away from him. "Now hurry up and get on board before the train leaves you behind." The whistle blows again and Spencer hugs Lulu one more time before taking Monsoon's cage and running up the train's steps. He's still looking behind him when he crashes head on with another boy, both of them falling to the ground. The other boy groans with annoyance as he shoves Spencer repeatedly until he's on his feet. He's tall for an eleven year old, a good four inches taller than Spencer, himself, and his black hair is combed neatly to the side, revealing his rather large, pale forehead.

 

"Why don't you watch where you're going, freak!" the kid hisses, glaring down at Spencer.

 

"Dario!" a voice calls. The boy turns as two other boys their age join him. One is just as tall as him, only skinnier and paler, and the other is Spencer's height, but his hair is so red his brown eyes look almost fiery. It was the redhead that had called the boy- Dario, was it? "We were wondering where you ran off to."

 

"I wanted to make sure my bags were being handled correctly, they're expensive," Dario added, still dusting himself off. "When this _moron_ shoved me down." Spencer had just about gotten to his feet when he felt the stares of all three boys. Worse, it seemed Dario's complaining was starting to draw the attention of a lot of the students who were in the nearby compartments. More than ever he wanted to disappear, but the redheaded boy was blocking his path now.

 

"That's pretty rude, shoving people. How do you like it?" He asks, shoving Spencer with surprising force. The crowd of kids were beginning to grow and soon all of their excited whispers were reaching Spencer's ear as he tried to figure out how not to get beat up by three kids on the train to his new school.

 

"Do you think they're going to fight?"

 

"I hope so!"

 

"That one kid looks terrified!"

 

"What's happening?"

 

"Just a bunch of first years messing around."

 

"Wait, I know that kid!" Spencer turned towards the voice and nearly squealed with joy when Mara, the girl from the broom shop, made her way through the crowd and towards him. It seemed she had a presence because the whispers went from excitement for the fight to curious as to why Mara even knew Spencer.

 

"You know Mara?" Dario accused, not believing his eyes. It looked like he wanted to say more, but he quickly shut his mouth as Mara approached.

 

"Hey Spencer!" She greets when she finally meets him, ignoring the other kids. "I saw Lulu before the train took off, figured I'd check on you." She looks from him to Dario and his friends, who now looked smaller compared to her. "You three wanna back off or do I have to go get my brothers to join us?" Not liking the turn of the events, Dario gave Spencer one last glare before being pulled away by his frightened friends.

 

Spencer smiled sheepishly as the crowd of students disappeared. "Thanks for that."

 

"No worries," Mara says, shrugging her shoulders. "I'd invite you back to my compartment but it's passed full at the moment. My friends would kill me if I added another body."

 

"It's ok," Spencer says. "I'll find another seat. See you around?"

 

"You bet, kid," she says, giving him one last wink before walking back to her compartment. Spencer decided to go in the opposite direction, Monsoon purring gently in her cage in his arms. He walked passed three full compartments before coming across one that had just one other boy. He looked to be Spencer's age as well, with short black hair and skin as brown as Mateo. When he stepped in the boy looked up from his book and smiled.

 

"She's beautiful!" He coos, looking up from Monsoon to smile at Spencer. "I'm Cristo."

 

"I'm Spencer," He greets, shaking Cristo's hand. "Mind if I sit here?"

 

"Oh, go for it!" Cristo says with excitement. "Don't feel the need to keep her in her cage either. My mom's pretty allergic to all sorts of animals so I can never have them around." Spencer nods his head, closing the compartment door before opening Monsoon's cage. The small kitten quickly leaped into Cristo's lap, purring as he beings to scratch under her chin. "It's a shame really," he says. "They all seem to really like me."

 

"I'm sure there's a spell that can help with your mom's allergies right?" He asks. According to Lulu, magic has many different kinds of qualities that can do all sorts of things.

 

"Oh I'm a Newblood," Cristo reveals. Lulu had explained that there were three types of wizards. Fullbloods were wizards born of two magical parents, Halfbloods were born with one magical parent, and Newbloods were born with No-Maj parents. Although Spencer was a Halfblood with his mom being a witch, he might as well be a Newblood seeing as how he didn't know anything about the magical world thanks to Lulu thinking he was a Squib. He tells this much to Cristo, who stares at him with wide eyes.

 

"That's incredible!" He replies. "My mother was able to get in contact with some distant relatives of ours through the MACUSA, they were kind enough to explain some things for me."

 

They spent the next hour or so talking about all kinds of things. Both of them brought up along No-Majs, they both knew about the same things. To Spencer's relief, Cristo was also a fan of _Alien Kids_ so they spent about forty-five minutes talking about that alone. Sometime during their chat, an old man came by with a cart full of snacks neither of them have heard of. So, like any sane kid their age would do, they put together whatever money they had in their pockets (Lulu made sure to give him some wizarding money) and but as much candy as they could.

 

"Apparently these chocolate frog cards are collectible," Cristo says, holding his up to read. "Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived. Well, that's a little vague. Are we not living boys?" Spencer wanted to respond, but the jelly bean he had been chewing on suddenly tasted very much like spoiled milk and he was gagging, washing out his mouth with a bottle of Fairy Spring Water. They were just about to dig in to some licorice wands when the compartment door opened and a small blonde boy poked his head through it. He took in the scene before looking at Spencer.

 

"Are you Spencer Greylock?" he asks. Spencer looks at Cristo, who looks just as confused as him, before nodding back to the other boy. The boy grins before stepping out the door. He's only gone for a few moments before he comes back, this time with a black girl with great curly hair. "Told you I'd find him."

 

"Yeah, yeah," the girl mumbles, smiling at Spencer. "Hi, I'm Tiarah. And this is my friend, Andrew."

 

"I'm Spencer," He says. "And this is my friend, Cristo." Cristo smiled at the pair, a bit brighter when Spencer mentioned him as his friend, and waved.

 

"We know who you are," Andrew says excitingly, him and Tiarah wasting no time to take a seat. "The whole train is talking about how you're friends with Maralah Tsoshie, who is the most popular witch in her year."

 

"And you being friends with her only confirms our theory that you'll get more than one option during the sorting," Tiarah adds. "We figured that'd be the case when we found out your name was the same as Mount Greylock. Plus the way you handled yourself against Dario." They both seemed really excited, but Spencer was only getting more and more confused as they talked.

 

"What do you mean by sorting?" he asks. Tiarah and Andrew smiled brightly at him.

 

"When we reach Ilvermorny we'll be sorted into four different houses," Andrew explains. "Pukwudgie, Horned Serpent, Wampus, and Thunderbird. You'll be sorted into the house you belong in when the statue representing it presents itself to you. Sometimes more than one house statue will present itself so it'll be up to the student to pick where they want to go. These students usually grow up to be powerful witches and wizards once they leave Ilvermorny. Like my cousin, Diamantina Celeste, she's the most popular witch in the music industry at the moment. She was wanted by Wampus and Pukwudgie before she went with Wampus."

 

"And my grandmother, Seraphina Picquery," Tiarah adds. "She was wanted by all four houses, which is really rare, before going with Horned Serpent. She went on to become President of the MACUSA."

 

"So," Spencer starts. "You're here to make friends because you think I'll be important?" Immediately after he says that he can tell he's wrong. Tiarah and Andrew both look sad that he'd ever even assume that.

 

"Oh," Tiarah reacts. "No, we just thought we might have a good chance of having multiple houses as well, seeing as strong magic can be passed down through generations and we wanted to know which house you preferred."

 

"Right," Spencer says, feeling a bit embarrassed. "To be honest I don't know much about them, even though I'm a Halfblood I grew up with expectations of becoming a Squib."

 

"Oh well that's alright!" Andrew beamed. "I've already read _Ilvermorny's Magical History,_ I can help you with any questions you have."

 

"Can I ask a few myself?" Cristo piped.

 

"Of course!" Andrew tells him. They spend the remainder of the train ride talking about Ilvermorny and how a witch from Britain founded it. Once Andrew answered all the questions Spencer and Cristo could come up with, they all got to know each other. Andrew was born and raised in New York City. Tiarah grew up in Savannah, Georgia while Cristo was from East Los Angeles. They were all first years and Tiarah thought it would be a great idea if they stuck together until they were sorted. Spencer really enjoyed all their company so agreed, as well as the other two.

 

The whistle blew and Spencer could feel the train slowing down. Picking up Monsoon, who had crawled back to his lap during all the conversations, he walks over to the window to peak outside. The train begins to pass several small houses and shops, some with people similarly dressed like the wizards at the station. Andrew is by his side, grinning. "Ilvermorny Town," He reveals. "We should go change into our robes, we'll be stopping very soon." Him and Tiarah leave their compartment while Cristo and Spencer grab their robes before leaving to go change as well. A familiar knot of nerves starts forming in Spencer's stomach when he returns fully dressed. It only seems to intensify when the train comes to a sudden stop.

 

He was finally at Ilvermorny.


	5. Four Statues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the Sorting begin!

Spencer's heart seemed to stop the exact moment the trains's wheels did, a loud squeak and a sudden jerk of his body indicating the latter. Him and the others were now dressed in their robes and he was busy putting Monsoon in her cage when Tiarah came by with a cage of her own, a striped orange cat staring curiously at his tiny kitten.

 

"Oh you have a cat too!" She says. "That's great, K.P. is going to need another feline friend!" He nods his head. Monsoon's been a bit shy since he's gotten her, although she didn't show it with Cristo, so hopefully she'll warm up to the others as well. They both join Cristo and Andrew in the walkways before exiting the train. The town surrounding the station looked lively in the autumn night. Candle lit lanterns floated down the streets, illuminating the small buildings and trees with orange and yellow leaves.

 

Spencer felt a little overwhelmed and was a bit relieved when the others huddled close to him and traveled together outside the station. None of them really knew what to do as more and more students began to exit the train. Spencer's excitement spiked a little when Mara got off with a group of older kids, laughing about something one of them had said. Trailing them were a boy and a girl that had to be about Spencer's age. As soon as they stepped off the platform everyone's eyes were on them. Everything about them were quite ordinary. They were both in the school's robes and each had pale skin with matching blue eyes, but that's not what had people staring. The girl's hair was a dark shade of violet, only noticeable under the lantern's light while the boy's was a rosy red, matching the blush on his cheeks as he huddle closer to the girl.

 

"First years!" A loud, cranky voice shouted. "All first years with me!" Spencer turned his head from the boy to an even stranger creature. The creature couldn't be more than three feet tall with giant ears and skin that seemed to be glowing, despite having many wrinkles. At first none of the kids his age seemed to move, earning a few chuckles from the older students as they passed, until Tiarah motioned for them to follow her.

 

"Come on," she urges. "That's one of the Pukwudgies that works for the school." The thing, which reminded Spencer vaguely of a goblin, seemed to be growing impatient, like it had other places to be. Eventually Spencer and the others made their way towards him, Tiarah leading the pack.

 

As they moved, Spencer glanced back to the boy with the red hair, who was now clinging to the girl. To Spencer's surprise, the girl's hair suddenly changed to a greenish-yellow as she rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Nate, you can't come with me you have to go with the other first years!" She tells him, yanking her hand free before joining with the other older kids. The boy, Nate, seemed to panic until his eyes met with Spencer's and then suddenly, hopeful.

 

Feeling bad, Spencer smiled at the boy. "Wanna hang with us?" He asks. Nate nods furiously, his hair changing to a dark brown as he exhaled with relief. He makes his way towards them and Spencer introduces him to the others. Andrew's eyes were on the boy's hair when they shook hands. "I don't mean to be rude," he starts. "But how is it-"

 

"I'm a Metamorphmagus," Nate reveals. Despite Andrew mumbling something like "I knew it" under his breath Nate still went on to explain for Tiarah, Cristo, and himself. "It's like a shapeshifter. My sister, Gabby, and I got it from our mom although we're too young to really do anything with it-or control it for that matter," He adds. "Mostly all it does is change my hair color depending on my mood."

 

"What does brown mean?" Cristo asks, an encouraging smile on his face.

 

Nate runs his hand through his hair. "This is my natural hair color. Don't get too used to seeing it though," He teases. They turn back to the Pukwudgie when the tiny creature suddenly creates a ball of fire in his right hand.

 

"Welcome to Ilvermorny," He says grumpily. "I'm William and I will be taking you to the castle where you will be sorted into your house, followed by the night's feast. Now if you will all grab hands," he says. Spencer takes Cristo's hand to his right and Tiarah's to his left before turning his attention back to William, who offers his hand that's not holding a ball a fire to a terrified girl with long, golden brown hair. Finally giving in, the girl takes his hand and William tosses the ball of fire into the air. Spencer is among the group of kids that screams when the ball explodes, consuming them in smoke. When the smoke clears, Spencer releases his tightening grip on Tiarah and Cristo and realizes they're not in Ilvermorny town anymore, but at the top of the mountain in front of a giant, marvelous castle.

 

"My family would never believe this," Cristo mumbles, and Spencer can't help but agree. He suspected Lulu must've heard so much of this from their mother and knew that she would have done almost anything to be standing where he is now. All around them more and more poofs of smoke were appearing and the older students were each escorted into the school with by their own Pukwudgie. He catches Mara's eye and waves to her and, to his relief, she smiles and waves back. He notices that this gets him a few looks from the other kids, particularly Dario and his friends. William clears his throat before turning back to Spencer and the other first years.

 

"Once I lead you into the school you will each be sorted into your house. One by one you will step forward into the center of the entrance hall where the four statues representing each house will select you. Horned Serpent, Wampus, Pukwudgie, and Thunderbird. In the case of more than one house choosing you, you will pick the house you would prefer and before you hear the rumors," He adds, frowning. "I, nor any other Pukwudgie, will care if you decided not to go with the house that so embarrassingly represents us." He motions for the students to follow him. "Into the entrance we go and DON'T TOUCH THE STATUE!"

 

Before Spencer or any of the others can ask, a marble statue of the woman and man greets them as they enter the giant doors of the castle. "That's Isolt Sayre and James Steward," Andrew tells them. "They founded the school." Spencer and the others stared in awe at all their surroundings as they began to climb up the stairs.

 

"I got an idea," Tiarah whispers, pulling the boys closer. "If we all get a chance to choose, we should all choose the same house. That way we can all still be together." Spencer and Andrew were quick to the nod their heads, Cristo voiced his agreement, and Nate looked so relieved his hair almost looked peach. They climbed the rest of the stairs feeling more confident but all that seemed to vanish once William opened the doors and lead the group into the hall.

 

The giant hall was shaped like a large oval. Set in the center of the floor was a Gordian Knot and surrounding it were four platforms with four different statues resting at the top of each one. Behind each statue was a table filled with the other students. There was a table at the back of the hall elevated so that it peered over the entire room. Here, several adults looked down at Spencer and the others. The adults ranged from old to quite young, one particular man at the end of the table had half the first years girls blushing when he smiled toward them. "He's beautiful," Andrew whispers next to him. Spencer's eyebrows raise at this, but he says nothing. At the center of the table sat an older woman with robes of stunning gold that hugged her body tight, a large necklace of red jewels around her brown skin matching the jewel directly on her forehead, her long, braided, black hair reached passed her waist as she stood up and smiled in greeting.

 

"Alright, everyone, to the center of the hall!" William grunted, taking out a sheet of paper in his hand. "When I call your name, you're going to step into the center, right onto the knot, and wait for one of the statues to pick you. You'll be able to tell if they want you so don't ask me. Good?" None of them opened their mouths and William grunted in approval. "Good! Now then...Cristo Calderon!"

 

Cristo yelped next to him, earning him a few laughs as he shuffled his way to the center of the room. It must be terrifying going first and Spencer can only imagine how more terrifying it is when, like him, Cristo has been living his life without the slightest idea of magic until now. The hall grew quiet when Cristo reached the center, directly on top of the Gordian Knot, and waited. Spencer didn't know what to expect but smiled when the statue representing Horned Serpent, uncoiled itself to raise it's head, the jewel on top shining brightly.

 

"Congratulations, you've been sorted into-" William cuts himself off, turning to another statue. This one resembled William as it reached into it's pouch, pulled out an arrow and raised it into the air. This got a few murmurs from the tables before everyone clapped, impressed. Spencer realized that it was because more than one house had chosen Cristo which, according to Andrew and Tiarah, was a very good thing. The clapping died down and everyone waited to see if another statue would respond. When it appeared none were, William motioned for Cristo to choose. Cristo caught Spencer's eye before turning his attention back to the two statues. Finally, Cristo walked over to the Horned Serpent's statue. The table behind it began to cheer and an older student stood and motioned for Cristo to join them at the table.

 

William cleared his throat and looked at his list again. "Andrew Celeste!" Spencer turned to the smaller boy and gave him a smile as he confidently walked up to the center of the Gordian Knot. As soon as he was in position the statue that resembled some sort of feline roared, causing a few students behind him to jump in their place. William looked as if he was going to speak when the fourth statue, one Spencer couldn't see from his position, also made movement. Everyone in the hall clapped with excitement. Cristo and Andrew were the first to walk up to the knot and both managed to get more than one option, raising the bar very high for the rest of them. Andrew grinned and made his way to the table belonging to the statue he couldn't see, earning cheers from the students there.

"Very good," William mumbles. "Pazice Cohen!" The girl didn't get more than one option, but she was the first to be sorted into Wampus. After Pazice, four more students went up but all of them were only selected by one house. He suspected that to be the case but after the last boy, Kaiyo Fujimoto, took his seat at the Horned Serpent table, Spencer felt his stomach tighten. "Spencer Greylock!" He could feel everyone's eyes on him as he made his way to the Gordian Knot. He stepped right over it and took a deep breath. As soon as all the air left his lungs, Spencer picked up the sound of wings beating and turned to look at the statue that he couldn't see when he was with the other first years.

Spencer gasped as he watched the statue move it's four wings. It was the bird from his dreams. This statue represented the Thunderbird and he feels so stupid that he didn't connect the dots sooner. Of course the bird in his dreams, the four-winged creature that flew through heavy storms, was known as the Thunderbird. He was so in awe that he didn't quite notice the excitement in everyone's applause until it picked up even more, some people even gasping. Spencer turned to see that not only was the Horned Serpent's jewel glowing, but the Pukwudgie's arrow was also raised into the air. His mouth had dropped in disbelief, even before the Wampus statue lifted it's head and roared. Students were now jumping on their feet, shouts were being made, the applause grew louder, and even William looked at the four statues in disbelief. All four houses wanted him. Even the teachers looked joyfully surprised as he stood paralyzed, not knowing what to do. He didn't know how long he was standing, it wasn't until the woman at the center of the teacher's table rose to her feet that Spencer even realized what was happening.

 

"Mr. Greylock," she begins, her voice carrying through the entire hall even though it sounded like a whisper. "You may choose a house whenever you feel ready." Spencer nods his head and glances back at the four statues. He stares long at the Horned Serpent, it's jewel still shining bright, but he finds himself walking to the Thunderbird table, passing the statue that frequently visits his dreams, and takes a seat next to Andrew. Everyone at the table erupts in cheers, a few of the older students even patting his back. Andrew is losing his mind. "I can't believe that happened!" he says, his voice cracking. "That hasn't happened in over a hundred years!"

 

"Hey, Spencer!" Spencer's head snaps to the sound of Mara's voice, who is sitting a few seats down from him, grinning. "Great choice!" A few of her friends mumble their agreements before William's voice silences them all. "Dario Hajek!" Spencer redirects his attention to the boy he collided with on the train. He strides over to the knot, almost as if he expects to have the same result as Spencer, but is visually disappointed when he is only selected by Wampus. Spencer wasn't. After Dario, five more first years were sorted into houses before Nate was called, his hair a dark grey as he shuffled to the Gardian Knot. The Thunderbird was the only one to select him but he seemed very happy with his choice as he joined Spencer and Andrew, his hair momentarily bright yellow before returning to his natural brown. After him it was only three students before Tiarah was up. She was also selected by two houses but happily chose Thunderbird over Pukwudgie.

 

After she joined them, they all watched as the rest of the students were sorted. When the last girl- Anastasia Solovo, who was also the one too afraid to hold William's hand-was sorted into Thunderbird, William rolled up his list and took his seat with the rest of the teachers. The woman at the center lifted her cup and then suddenly their empty plates was covered with all kinds of food. Everyone began digging into the feast displayed in front of them and Spencer was already taking a bite out of his chicken before listening to Andrew.

 

"Thunderbird had the most students this year," He observes. "But that's most likely due to the fact that it had had three students choose it's house." Spencer continued to listen until his attention was drawn by a bunch of the older kids laughing. Mara was one of them, trying to catch her breath as she smacked the boy responsible for all of their laughter. Nate's sister, Gabby, was also in Thunderbird and she came by to check on him towards the end of the feast. She seemed relieved that he had found friends. She eventually rejoined her friends before the woman at the center of the teacher's table stood up, all chatter dying down.

 

"Good evening," She said. "I hope you've all had plenty to eat. To all my returning students, welcome back! To all my new students, I am delighted to welcome you to Ilvermorny. My name is Adira Hazazi and I am Headmistress here at Ilvermorny and I'm pleased that after a very exciting sorting this year, you've all settled into your new houses. Before your House President escorts you to your dorms, I'd like to lay down a few rules. All students are only permitted to access the Black Forest during daylight hours. However, The Endless Caves are strictly forbidden to enter, it's very easy to get lost in them seeing as they're...endless," she says. "All class schedules will be handed out to you tomorrow morning during breakfast, so please, do not stay up too late. And, like always, Quidditch tryouts will be happening at 6 pm on the Quidditch field behind the castle. Good luck to all who will be attending! Now, House Presidents if you will please escort the first years to their new dorms, and I wish everyone a good night's rest!"

 

Hazazi steps down from her spot at the table and soon all of the teachers begin making their exit. Spencer thinks about going to check on Cristo when a older male student begins to make his way to the first years. He's very lean and tall, even Spencer can admit he's quite handsome. In fact, he seems to remind him of someone. "Hello," the male greets, all smiles. "I'm Yuma Tsoshie, House Thunderbird President and seventh year here at Ilvermorny. If you follow me, I'll escort you to Thunderbird's common room which is at the highest tower of the school." He begins to lead the first years out of the hall, Spencer being at the end of the herd with Nate, Andrew, and Tiarah.

 

"Yuma is Mara's brother?" Spencer whispers, not surprised when it's Andrew who nods his head.

 

"Yup," he says. "And so are the triplets. They're all in Thunderbird, too. Sort of like a family tradition. They're grandmother is a Professor here and is Head of the House." Spencer vaguely remembers Mara mentioning her siblings back at Horizon Alley when him and Lulu were shopping. It's almost scary how much Yuma resembles Mara's father, Mr. Tsoshie.

 

After a bit of walking, they reach a staircase with a statue of the Thunderbird in front of it. "Now because the Thunderbird selected you and you accepted, you can walk freely up the stairs without being rejected. Unfortunately all house dorms are like this so I advise you all not to attempt to try and sneak into the other houses. The only non-Thunderbirds allowed to enter are faculty." Yuma leads them up the stairs, which has Spencer slightly panting when they reach the top, before letting them in through a large door. The carpets and walls were a light shade of blue with complimentary furniture and fire place. There was yet another staircase that went two separate ways, which Yuma stood in front of. "On my right will be the girl's dorms and on my left the boy's dorm. You'll be happy to find all your luggage has been moved there by the Pukwudgies that work here. If any of you have any more questions, feel free to come find me in my room with the other seventh years boys. Until then I'll end the tour with a goodnight and I hope you all enjoy your first day of classes."

 

Spencer and the others watched Yuma disappear up the left staircase before Tiarah lets out a yawn. "Well I could definitely go to sleep after meal we just had. I'll see you guys at breakfast tomorrow!" The boys wave goodbye to Tiarah before climbing up the stairs with the other two first year boys to their room. The room was spacious enough to fit five beds and five nightstands. "Anyone care about which bed they take?" asked Tyler Kent, one of the other first years. The other one, Braden Sahoy, shook his head and Spencer was about to do the same until Andrew snatched his wrist along with Nate's.

 

"We call these three!" Andrew announces, claiming the center bed of the three chosen while Spencer and Nate took the two on the other sides of him. Tyler and Braden didn't seem to mind and soon everyone was busy unpacking. When Spencer finished, he quickly changed in pajama bottoms and an old T-shirt before letting Monsoon out of her cage to nestle up to him. Andrew is the first to go to sleep, his tiny body curled so far in it looks even smaller compared to his bed. Braden is the last to finish unpacking and get's up to put his candle, the room going dark. Spencer turns to his side, pulling his sheets over his shoulders as he hears the other boys breathe slowly in their sleep. Spencer begins to close his eyes when suddenly he hears a loud whistling noise followed by a strange voice, one he's never heard before.

_The heir has returned. The heir has come home._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. Please feel free to leave a comment I'd love to hear what you all think!


	6. Dancing Tables

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer and his friends go through their first day of classes, meeting some of their new teachers, as well as watch as Nate's sister, Gabby, tries out for the quidditch team.

Spencer woke up bright and early for his first day of class at Ilvermorny. Needless to say, he was excited and when he scanned the room to see Andrew and Nate already getting dressed he realized he wasn't the only one. The other two first year boys, Braden and Tyler, had already left so after Spencer changed into his robes he grabbed his stuff and left with Andrew and Nate. Tiarah was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs, her black curls still a bit wet from the shower she must've taken.

 

"Morning, boys," she greets, catching onto their step as they leave the common room. "Sleep well?" All three of them nodded. Spencer decided not to mention the strange voice he heard before he went to sleep last night. He didn't really know the full extent of abilities one could have but he's pretty sure it still sounds crazy if there are voices only he can hear even in the magical world. They made their way to the main hall for breakfast, trying to find Yuma so they can know about their schedules. When he was nowhere insight, they gave up and decided to take a seat and start eating.

 

"Nate, there goes your sister," Andrew says later on with a mouth full of cereal. Gabby is beside them then, her hair just as dark and brown as Nate's. She's a slender girl, just a little bit taller than Spencer and Tiarah, who were the same height. "Doing OK little brother?"

 

"How do we find out our class schedules?" Nate asks her.

 

"You wanna go to Professor Tsoshie," Gabby explains, grabbing Nate by the shoulder before turning him towards the teacher's table and pointing at two elderly women cackling about something. "She's the one of the right. If you have any questions and Yuma's not around, you'll wanna ask her. She's Head of the Thunderbird House."

 

"What subject does she teach?" Andrew asks.

 

"Divination, but you won't be offered that until you're third years," Gabby answers. "I'm about to get my schedule if you wanna join me. I remember how nervous I was when I was a first year." Feeling relieved, Spencer grabbed his stuff and moved with the others to the teacher's table, Gabby leading them. Most of the table was empty, except for the two old witches they were walking to, a not-quite-as old witch who looked like she didn't want to be bothered, the young wizard all the first year girls (and Andrew) were drooling over, and William, who, like the other witch, looked like he didn't want to be bothered.

 

Spencer could tell which of the two witches was Professor Tsoshie, even if Gabby hadn't pointed her out earlier. The way she laughed, there was no doubt she was related to Mara. After the two witches' laughter died down, she glanced at them approaching her. Spencer was surprised to see white gloss over what used to be brown eyes, she was blind.

 

"Ms. Lowe," she says. "How can I help you?"

 

"Picking up our schedules, Professor," Gabby replied politely. Despite not being able to see, Professor Tsoshie still scanned the rest of the group, her eyes lingering on Spencer momentarily.

 

"Of course, here you are," She handed Gabby her schedule. "And for you, Mr. Celeste, Mr. Greylock, Mr. Lowe." She hands all three boys their schedules. The other witch seems to be more interested as soon as she hears Spencer's name. Spencer ignored her stare as Professor Tsoshie handed Tiarah her schedule.

 

"I went to school with your grandmother," Professor Tsoshie tells her. "I think that was the last time any of us had been to a sorting as exciting as last night's." He can tell Tiarah feels awkward but she doesn't say anything until they all say goodbye and Gabby leaves to return to her friends.

 

"Geez, Spencer, who knew you'd become such a celebrity over night," She mumbles.

 

"Hey guys!" The group turns to see Cristo happily running towards them from the young wizard at the teacher's table. Andrew and Tiarah are quick to demand why he was with him. "Professor Medina? He's the Head of Horned Serpent, I was just getting my schedule. He also teaches Charms." At this bit of news, Professor Medina's new fans quickly scan their schedules and rejoice when they see that Thunderbird first years have Charms right after lunch.

 

"Hey," Tiarah says, still looking at her schedule. "Thunderbird and Horned Serpent share Flying lessons together on Thursday."

 

"We'll have a class togther!" Nate cheerfully summarizes. Everyone is happy to hear that, even Spencer. They were all a bit sad that Cristo was the only one that wasn't sorted into Thunderbird. There was a bell and Cristo said goodbye to the group as he headed to Herbology. The rest of them made their way to a room on the left side of the castle to begin their first Potions class. Potions was taught by the other witch who was sitting next to Professor Tsoshie, Professor Laveau. She was a sassy old thing, reminded Spencer of his grandmother when she was alive. She told us all about medicinal qualities of Potions and how they were going to be studying these qualities for the rest of the year.

 

"Now I knows how you young folk be," she says, tossing her braids over her shoulder as she turned to face the class. "As soon as you get your hands on a wand all you wanna do is point that thing in any direction and make all kinds of things happen. That's how most of ya will end up visiting Susan, the Pukwudgie in charge of the medicine wing. Ain't nothin' a Pukwudgie can't fix, but ain't nothin' complain as much either! I'mma teach you some good remedies in the hopes that one of you will be smart enough to learn a thing or two and will help your foolish friends when they gets themselves into trouble. Now let's open your books, and see what we can conjure up that'll soften a headache."

 

Spencer was a bit stressed as they learned the remedies to cure headaches caused by Sonic Tree Frogs, but deemed the class not too difficult once they moved on to different cauldrons. Towards the end of the class Professor Laveau had everyone try to brew up a potion she called Instant Happiness. It wasn't until it was finished that they all realized it was chocolate pudding and each took a cup full of it to eat on their way to their next class.

 

Their next class was History of Magic with Professor Dickerson. She seemed as young as Professor Medina and she was really pretty, causing Spencer and Nate to rush to the front to get a closer seat to her. She wore glasses and her black hair was styled short, just barely reaching her neck. The sleeves to her blouse were rolled up as she moved around frantically. When the bell rang Professor Dickerson let out a sigh and smiled brightly at them. "Hi! Welcome to History of Magic! I know some of you might think that this is going to be very boring class, but I promise that learning about our world's history is going to be a wonderful experience. I've traveled the world learning everything I can about magic and its roots and I promise when I'm done with you, you'll all be young scholars of history!"

 

Professor Dickerson was right, at least in Spencer's case. Not wanting to tackle anything big on the first day, Professor Dickerson told them about how Ilvermorny came to be. How Isolt Sayre came from Great Britain and met James Steward, a No-Maj, and founded the school after adopting two wizard boys, Chadwick and Webster Boot. The four of them each created their own house, based on their favorite creature. Chadwick and Webster founded Thunderbird and Wampus, Isolt founded Horned Serpent, and James founded Pukwudgie, as a token of gratitude to a Pukwudgie that saved their lives.

 

The girl sitting behind Spencer's table, Karyn Floretta, raised her hand. "So if that's how Pukwudgie's began to work at Ilvermorny, is the one that knew James and Isolt still here today?" She asks. Professor Dickerson shrugged her shoulders. "No one can say. It's still a mystery as to how long a Pukwudgie's lifespan is and they're not to keen on revealing it to us anyway. However, I strongly doubt that Pukwudgie is still with us."

 

As they made their way to the main hall for lunch, Spencer watched the Pukwudgie as they tended to the school. Professor Dickerson explained that the Pukwudgie house valued those with a big heart and Spencer couldn't help but wonder if it was due to the lack of kindness a Pukwudgie seemed to possess. They all seemed so grumpy all the time, almost like they didn't want to be here but Andrew had mentioned how even though they're paid for their services, they can leave whenever they choose. When they entered the hall, Spencer's eyes caught William's, the grumpiest of them all, and immediately averted his gaze.

 

"So far we've gotten no homework," Tiarah reveals, already taking one of the cheeseburgers displayed on the table. "I'm sure Professor Medina won't give us none either so the only class we have to worry about is Defense Against the Dark Arts."

 

"Yeah, well hopefully we don't get homework in that class either," Nate says, swallowing a mouth full of fries. "I was hoping I'd be able to cheer on Gabby during Quidditch tryouts this evening." Spencer still didn't quite understand what Quidditch was. Lulu had explained that it was a sport wizards played on their brooms, that their mom had taken her to see a few games before, but she never went into full detail. Tiarah and Andrew seemed excited though and asked if they can come along as well. "Yeah I think she'd like that," Nate admits. "You can come too, Spencer. We can explain the game to you if you get confused." Spencer nodded his head, looking down the table to see Gabby chatting with her friends. She didn't seem nervous, but the tips of her hair were the same peachy color Nate's hair was when he was nervous about the sorting.

 

They spent the rest of their lunch explaining Quidditch to Spencer before leaving the table and heading over to Charms. Andrew, Tiarah, and the other two Thunderbird girls, Anastasia and Karyn, were clearly eager to get to the front of the of the class so Nate and Spencer just took seats in the second row with Tyler and Braden. When Professor Medina walked in he was all smiles, dressed in bright emerald robes that matched his eyes and seemed to make his brown skin glow. "First years!" Professor Medina beamed, opening his arms widely. "Welcome to Charms class! Let's skip the boring introductions and get to the fun stuff already. Wands out!"

 

The entire class, including Spencer, took out their wands eagerly. Almost immediately a warmth traveled from Spencer's wand up through his chest like it had when he first received it at the train station. It was like his mother was with him, and for that he smiled. "Today we'll be practicing a simple Freezing Charm. Now watch my wand movement and repeat after me: _Immobulus."_ Professor Medina had the class say the incantation, as well as doing the movement several times before he pointed his wand at an empty desk. A pink light shot out and the desk shot up and started dancing in it's spot. Spencer joined the others in laughing as the desk continued to jump and turn. Professor Medina made a few more objects start dancing until everyone had an object to work on. Spencer was still working on trying to freeze his army of dancing pencils when Professor Medina let out a shout of happy surprise.

 

"Well done, Mr. Lowe! I do believe that blender won't be joining the ballet anytime soon, good work!" He says, patting Nate on the back. Nate's hair was a mixture of purple and peach, the latter no doubt due to the glares he was getting from certain jealous students. Everyone went back to practicing but when the class ended, no one else was able to stop their dancing object, even though Anastasia was able to slow her two apples down. They all headed to Defense Against the Dark Arts on a high note, pleased with their last lesson and ready to end the day. Spencer and Andrew were chatting loudly, as was everyone else, when the day behind them slammed shut and a woman with bright red hair slicked into a ponytail made her way to the front of the class. Spencer made sure to go quiet long before she finally made it to the front, not wanting to be a recipient of that glare of hers, which could give William's a run for his money.

 

"Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts, I'm Professor Murphy," She announced, arms behind her back like an officer. "The class is self explanatory. Throughout your time here at Ilvermorny I will be instructing you on how to defend yourself against the dark arts and creatures alike. I've been teaching this course for ten years, before that I was an Auror for seventeen years, eight of those years leading a special units teams targeting dark wizards and locating dangerous objects. Now what falls under the category 'dark arts,' you may ask? Turn your books to page twelve and we will begin our lessons."

 

Professor Murphy is a no nonsense type of woman. She went through the whole introduction of Defense Against the Dark Arts the same way she addressed the class: direct and with no room to comment. At the end of the lesson she had assigned everyone to list ten differences between a Sasquatch and a giant. It wasn't until they all turned the corner that Nate groaned. "Shoot, we were so close to no homework," he says.

 

"It's not too bad though," Spencer tells him. "If we head to the library now we could knock it out quick and still make it to your sister's tryouts."

 

"I like your thinking Spencer!" Andrew says, slinging his arms over him and Tiarah. "Off we go!"

 

The library was run by a Pukwudgie named Renee, who was chatting with William when the group arrived. Ignoring their annoyed glances, Spencer took a seat at the farthest table away from them he could find while the others went and grabbed some books. When they returned they took out their quills and started their homework. It wasn't too bad, even though they have a few similarities giants and Sasquatches are nothing alike. Reading _How To Spot A Mythical Creature_ however told Spencer that Professor Murphy had assigned the homework since the creatures were the most similar in attacks, which is why most authorities got them confused.

 

"I need one more," Tiarah said after more than an hour of working on their assignment.

 

"Copy one of mine," Spencer suggested. He had finished his awhile ago and was reading _World War Giant_ as he waited for the others to finish. Tiarah ended up copying down that unlike giants, Sasquatches didn't include humans in their diet and would only attack them if they felt threatened. Since they still had time the group decided to practice the Freezing Charm, Nate giving them pointers as they practiced on some ants outside the castle. After unsuccessfully stopping the insects from returning to their little anthill, Spencer put his wand away and followed the others as they made their way to the Quidditch pitch. The stadium reminded Spencer of a soccer field, except for the three large goal posts on both ends. They noticed a few bystanders hanging around and decided to join them and take a seat.

 

Spencer spotted Gabby on the field, a broom and a small bat by her side as she stretched. Applause began as four teams came out to the field, each of them in their own colors. Pukwudgie's colors were a dark orange, Wampus were scarlet red, Horned Serpent were violet, and Thunderbird were baby blue. Yuma was leading Thunderbird's team and not too behind him was Mara, followed by a really tall girl and three others who looked so much like Mara and Yuma that Spencer figured that they must be the triplets. They consisted of two boys and a girl. One of the boys was frowning, reminding Spencer of William, while the other had the biggest grin he's ever seen. The girl was also smiling and he realized that the two of them were teasing the boy frowning. "So Mara's whole family is on the Thunderbird team?" he asks.

 

"Yup," Andrew answers. "Plus Yuma's dating the Seeker, Olive, so they practice a lot during the summer. It's probably why they've been reigning champions for four years, the other teams just can't be as in sync as they are." When the four teams reach the center of the field, Yuma and a person from the other teams stepped forward and greeted each other. "They're all the captains. Professor Hazazi really encourages good sportsmanship so she has them all do tryouts together." Spencer watched as Yuma nodded his head and stepped forward, clearing his throat.

 

"Welcome to tryouts," he greets, waiting the applause to die down. "It looks like every team is in need for a new Beater but Horned Serpent is also looking for a Chaser while Wampus needs a new Seeker," He says, glancing at the other captains. "Since Pukwudgie are looking to fill both Beater spots, those trying out for their team will audition with those trying out for my team. If there are no questions, we'll start right away with everyone doing a couple of laps around the field."

 

Spencer watched as all the students trying out mounted their brooms and pushed off the ground. He stared in amazement as some of them flew gracefully around the field, while others were a bit rocky. He noticed that at some point the captains were flying to the ones barely hanging off their brooms, probably telling them that they were cut judging from their disappointed faces. When the ones who made the cut proved they can fly, the Horned Serpent's captain brought out the quaffle while Wampus' captain released the snitch and Yuma released the bludgers. One of the triplets, the one that was frowning, happened to be the other Beater on Thunderbird's team and was practicing with everyone trying out, including Gabby. She seemed to be the only one not to flinch when he barked orders and successfully managed to hit a bludger through a goal twice.

 

"Way to go Gabby," Nate whispers, watching as she now dodged a bludger coming straight for her. Eventually Yuma blew his whistle, signifying that the tryouts were over and everyone returned to the ground. All of the captains were now writing all over their clipboards. At one point Yuma even exchanged a few words with Horned Serpent's captain before moving to talk to his brother.

 

It was the captain for Wampus who stepped forward this time, a short guy with glasses and spiked blonde hair. "Team Wampus!" He called out, his deep voice not really expected by Spencer. "Please welcome your new Beater, Alexander Knight, and your new Seeker, Katie Sparks!" The team cheered as a muscular male and petite female walked over to them, shaking hands with the other members.

 

Next up was Horned Serpent. The captain was tall and lanky and his black hair was pulled in a ponytail. "Joining Horned Serpent," He announced. "Is our new Chaser, Oscar Scott, and our new Beater, Noreen Garner." Everyone clapped for the new members as Pukwudgie's captain, the only female captain, stepped forward.

 

"Pukwudgie's two new Beaters will be Deena Saunders and Terrence Heath," she announces. Spencer notices one spectator clapping especially loud when Terrence's name is announced and looks over to see first year Horned Serpent, Princeton Heath, sitting next to Cristo way up in the stands. Cristo catches his eye and waves.

 

"Thunderbird will only be taking in one person this year," Yuma announces, looking directly at the hopeful students. "Congratulations, Gabriela Lowe." Spencer made sure to cheer extra loudly for Gabby as she stepped up to greet Mara and the others, Nate was ecstatic. The new recruits apparently had to talk to the captain so everyone else was dismissed. As Spencer and the others made their way to the main hall, someone brushed passed him and bumped him. He turns around to see Mara grinning at him.

 

"Hey, Spencer. I didn't know you were a fan of Quidditch?" she asks, already taking off her gloves.

 

"It's my first time seeing it," He answers truthfully. "I came with Nate to cheer on Gabby."

 

"Oh ok," she says, glancing at Nate. "She did great! Not everyone can handle being screamed at by Ahiga all the time."

 

"He's your brother?"

 

"Unfortunately," she says, rolling her eyes. Just then the other male triplet runs up and slams into Mara, who punches him in the arm.

 

"Talking about me?" He asks, grinning at her and Spencer.

 

"No, your better third," she replies.

 

"Oh you were talking about me?" The female triplet walks up to them now, also smiling but it's not full of mischief like her brother's.

 

Mara lets out an exaggerated sigh. "Spencer, these are my sibilings, Ahanu and Halona. Triplet 1 and 3, this is Spencer, Lulu's little brother."

 

"Ah, she mentioned having a brother a few times at the shop," Ahanu says, sticking out his hand. "Call me Aha, by the way." Spencer shakes his hand and after they leave to the changing rooms, he catches up with his friends and heads for the main hall. Halfway through dinner Mara and the others join the table, but she doesn't sit anywhere close to Spencer, instead choosing to sit with her friends. Despite being disappointed he joins Tiarah and Andrew in congratulating Gabby when she turns up.

 

"Make sure to tell Mom and Dad in your next wand-text," Nate tells her.

 

"I will, I will," Gabby says, grabbing some vanilla pudding. "Thanks for coming, you guys. It was really nice of you." She leaves to go join her friends so they go back to talking about the day's events. Spencer is really excited at the idea of flying a broom and so is Andrew, who suggests they should tryout for the team once they get used to flying. He agrees and both of them spend the entire trip to the common room trying to convince Tiarah and Nate to tryout as well. Tiarah flat out says no, stating that getting hit by bludgers are of no interest of hers but Nate says he'll think about it once they're in the boy's dorm. Tyler also shares his love for Quidditch and they spend the rest of the night showing Spencer different kinds of teams and players until the late hours of the night, finally going to bed once they realized they have Professor Murphy first thing in the morning. Spencer is grateful that this time around, he hears no voices before going to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, here's the next update! Picking the house colors were interesting but I hope I did the houses justice. I picked orange for Pukwudgie because the house seems so Autumn-y to me, and baby blue for Thunderbird for the sky. Wampus and Horned Serpent colors were random but I like them. Please feel free to comment on what you think of the story I'd love to hear what you guys think so far. Expect an update soon!


	7. Lulu's Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer meets the rest of his professors, gets a gift from Lulu, and runs into trouble with Dario.

The rest of the week went by pretty fast and Spencer was quick to get adjusted to his new schedule. The next day he and the rest of Thunderbird met their last two remaining professors. Professor Holloway taught Herbology. She looked as young as Professor Medina and Professor Dickerson but revealed to the class that she was actually the oldest teacher, but being half Fae slowed her aging. It also explained why her ears were pointed, hair magenta, and skin tone slightly green. She told them she has relatives visit to discuss their kind during Care for Magical Creatures but, like Professor Tsoshie's Divination class, they'd have to wait until they were third years.

 

Then they met Professor Olson, who taught Transfiguration. Professor Olson had graying hair and was stocky, reminding Spencer of an old lumberjack. Professor Olson came from Great Britain, a fact he constantly brought up during his first lesson with them. It seemed nothing they did seemed to impress him, always comparing them to himself when he learned at Hogwarts, the magical school he went to.

 

Wednesday they had to wake up at midnight for their Astronomy class with Professor Maxwell. Professor Maxwell taught his lesson in the second tower balcony, where he had them all look through some telescopes to view the planet Venus. Unfortunately Thunderbird shared this class with Wampus, which meant Spencer had to be in the same room as Dario, who clearly had not forgotten their encounter in the train when he shoved Spencer on his way out. "Stay out of my way," He warned, as he left with his friends to the Wampus common room.

 

Due to the late class, Spencer was a bit tired Thursday morning when he got up for breakfast. His tiredness seemed to go away though when the post came, one of the school's owls dropping off a small box right in front of him. He never expected to ever get anything but smiled when he saw Lulu's handwriting scribbled on the box's cover. He opened it up and took out a glass figurine of a globe. Tiarah, who was eating beside him, peeked over and grinned. "Wow, Spencer, who got you an Owl's Globe?"

 

"My sister," He mumbles, examining the globe. "What is it?"

 

"It's the latest travel device designed with alchemy," Andrew says, petting his brown barn owl, Pan-Pan. "It allows wizards to send messages in the blink of an eye, you can also access world news as well as open up a small portal to allow real-time conversation."

 

"So like a cell phone?" Spencer asks. He ended up getting confused stares by all three of his friends, but Karyn, who was a Halfblood that knew about the magical world and the no-maj world, looked at him from her side of the table.

 

"That's exactly what it is," She confirms. "Only these globes can work anywhere and they don't need to be recharged. All you need is your wand to turn it on." Spencer nodded taking out his wand. He pointed it at the globe and suddenly the glass shined a bright gold before the image of an owl flying appeared, soaring around the globe. He glanced at Karyn for help. "That means you got a message. Tap the owl with you wand." Spencer did as he was told and the owl burst into an image of Lulu smiling at him.

 

"Hey, Spencer!" She greets. "I hope you like your gift, Bolverk knew a guy so I got a pretty good deal on it. Whenever you get the chance I want you to call me and tell me everything that's been going on. Grandpa says 'Hi' and Mateo says he's miserable at his school and he hopes you are too. Love you, hope to see you soon!" Lulu's image disappears as she waves goodbye. He's just about to turn the globe off when he sees another owl flying around, only this time it's bright red.

 

"That means breaking news," Tiarah says. After Lulu's video, every first year at the table was paying attention to the globe. Taking out his wand, Spencer tapped the red owl, which burst into a wizard with a sharp face.

 

"Breaking news," the man reported. "The Masked Shadow has been spotted!" Everyone gasped, except for Spencer and Braden, who happened to be a Newblood. Now even some of the older kids were listening in. "The Masked Shadow appeared in Arizona's Sanctuary for Magical Creatures, where three employees were killed. His motives were not made clear but several files from the sanctuary's office have been cleared out. This marks the fifth attack this year alone by the Masked Shadow, who has been evading MACUSA for-"

 

The image of the wizard disappeared, Professor Tsoshie's wand seeming to be the cause. "Get to class now, kids," she tells them, walking back to the teacher's table. Spencer gathered his things and left with the others, not speaking until they were out of the hall. Of course, his friends already knew what he was going to ask. "The Masked Shadow is a powerful wizard," Tiarah explains. "He's been around for a few years now but he hasn't been making regular appearances since last year. The only thing MACUSA knows about him is that he's very dangerous and he's looking for something."

 

Spencer didn't feel like pressing on the matter as they went into Charms. He remembers the night before he got his letter to Ilvermorny. He was in his room after blowing up Dalbert's backpack and he could hear Lulu and his grandfather talking about him. One of the reasons Lulu was concerned about him going to Ilvermorny, or being exposed to the magical world in general, was because of the Masked Shadow. What made this wizard so dangerous that not even the magical government could catch him?

 

After Charms they went straight to Herbology, which they shared with Pukwudgie. Professor Holloway lead them to her garden where two beds full of plants were laid out next to her. The flowers on her left smelled heavenly to Spencer and he almost wanted to reach out grab them had Professor Holloway not start talking. "Today we'll be learning about Dandisirens and Incublossoms," she states. "Now these baby plants aren't as dangerous as their fully grown counterparts, but their fragrance can still hypnotize the opposite gender. So I want the girls to pair off and tend to the Dandisirens while the boys do the same and take care of Incublossoms. Go on!"

 

Spencer ended up being partnered with Zolton Schneider, a Pukwudgie, after Andrew partnered with Nate and Braden with Tyler. He helped the other boy trim the weeds but eventually had to pinch his nose from the stench the blossoms were giving out. He turned to where the girls were working and saw them doing the same, even though those flowers smelled heavenly to Spencer not too long ago.

 

"As you can, er, smell," Professor Holloway says. "Though the plants seem alluring to the opposite gender, they smell absolutely horrific to those of the same gender. Now I want you all to each pass the other box as you go wash your tools but don't get too close now." Spencer was very eager for his turn to walk passed the dandisirens. When it finally came, he took his time to enjoy the scent of freshly cut grass, and also a hint of something sweet, like an orange. His sensory heaven is interrupted when he hears a loud thud, followed by a scream from Anastasia. Professor Holloway was quick to act, coming up to gather Pukwudgie, Seymour Rush, who had collapsed by the dandisirens. "I said not to get to close!" She mumbles, reaching into her pocket for a green powder. She blows it on Seymour's face and helps him sit up as he opens his eyes.

 

"They smelled so good," Seymour admitted sheepishly, earning him a few laughs from the others. Professor Holloway was grinning herself. "I know, dear, I know."

 

It was all Spencer and the others could talk about during lunch, when they weren't eating or laughing up a lung. They also talked about how their first Flying lesson was today after Defense Against the Dark Arts. Spencer had been really nervous about the idea of flying on a broom, images of him falling while he was hundreds of feet in the air flashing through his mind before Tiarah and Andrew reassured him he'd be fine.

 

"Madam Kwon has never had any serious injuries before," Andrew tells him.

 

He casts a worried glance at Nate, who's also a bit nervous, before looking back at the small boy. "What's consider a serious injury?"

 

Andrew shrugs his shoulders. "Usually getting a branch pierced through you. Happens all the time in Quidditch." As they left their table, Spencer slightly lost the ambition to play Quidditch he had after watching Gabby tryout for the team.

 

The last two classes of the day had to be the most brutal, mainly because they were taught by the school's strictest teachers. Professor Olson began teaching them how to transfigure a feather into a cup and had no problem bringing up his amazing teachers at Hogwarts when none of them figured it out right away. He can tell he wasn't the only one getting annoyed and at one point thought Tiarah was going to snap if he muttered another, "Rubbish, just rubbish," as he passed her one more time.

 

"I did it!" Andrew declares and all the other Thunderbird first years crossed their fingers and hoped he actually did, just so the old man could shut up, when Professor Olson walked up to the table Andrew and Spencer shared.

 

"Did you now?" He asks, looking at Andrew's new shiny cup. "Right then, let's see it again, shall we? Don't want it to be a fluke now, eh?" Spencer didn't hold back rolling his eyes and groaned when Andrew failed to perform the task again, both of them glaring holes into the back of Professor Olson's head as he walked away grinning.

 

Professor Murphy was just as hard in Defense Against the Dark Arts, but less smug. Something him and Tiarah liked about her was how she was quick to correct them when they made a mistake, but in a way that it felt that she was still letting them figure it out. At the end of her class they had both managed to successfully shoot up green _and_ red sparks from their wand. When class ended, Spencer and the others quickly grabbed their belongings and made their way to the Quidditch pitch, where Cristo and the other Horned Serpent's were waiting.

 

"Who'd you just have?" Spencer asks when he's within hearing distance.

 

"Potions," Cristo replies, making a face. "I sorta suck but it's out of my hands now." Spencer cracks a smile, he hasn't had Potions since the first day so he can't really get a feel on if he's going to enjoy it or not yet.

 

"Hey, Cristo," Nate says. "What's the captain of the Horned Serpent Quidditch team doing here?" Spencer mimics the others as they all turn around to see the lanky, long haired boy sitting in the audience stands, an older blonde student sitting next to him. Spencer remembered her as well, she was the team's Chaser. "Your guess is as good as mine," Cristo answers.

 

It wasn't long before a small, petite woman made her way to where all the students were waiting. She was wearing goggles over her pale skin, her hair wrapped in a tight bun as she strutted to them. She took out her wand and with one flick summoned several brooms from the side of the stadium and began giving them out to each student. "Evening, students," she greets. "I am Madam Kwon, you're flying instructor. Learning how to fly is a very serious matter, but I promise that if you put in the hard work this class will be quite enjoyable. Today we'll start with simple commands, followed by a few drills. Some of you will catch on fast, I'm sure, so I have something extra for those select few. Now place your hand over your broom and with a stern voice, command 'UP!'"

 

Some of the students quickly did as they were told, but most of their voices were barely audible, so it was no surprise none of the brooms reacted. Madam Kwon crossed her arms. "I said with a stern voice!" She reminded. Spencer made eye contact with Tiarah, who rolled her eyes. He smirked, raising his hand over his broom. "Up! UP!" His broom shoots up into his hand so fast that he flinches from the impact. When he looks up he sees that Cristo has also succeeded in getting his broomstick, as well as Horned Serpent student, Jana Kelly. Once everyone managed to get their brooms, Madam Kwon had them working on exercises to get off the ground. Spencer yelped the first time he hovered in the air, his heart stopping for the four seconds he was up there. This time Andrew and Karyn were able to do it as well as Horned Serpent student Kaiyo Fujimoto. When Spencer's feet hit the ground he noticed the other students were still looking up above him and looked to see Cristo still in the air. Madam Kwon smiled as she walked closer to Cristo.

 

"Very good, first year," She says. "Now will yourself forward. Gently!" Spencer could tell Cristo was a little nervous but was smiling as his broom started to fly forward ever so slowly. He couldn't help but cheer for his friend and soon everyone was clapping. Madam Kwon's eyes grew big. "No, stay focused-" Cristo had lifted his hand to wave down at them, and when he did his broom shot forward at an alarming speed. A few of the girls screamed as Cristo soared passed them and towards one of the goal posts.

 

"He's going to crash!" Tiarah yells.

 

"Grip your broom, son!" Madam Kwon screams. Spencer watched in horror as Cristo suddenly grabbed the broom and curved around the goal post, now flying even better than most of the students at the tryouts. Now he watched in amazement as Cristo gently flew back to the group, landing as light as a feather in front of Madam Kwon.

 

"I'm sorry!" He quickly apologized. "I didn't really know what I was doing."

 

"Sure looked like you did," she says. "You have any Quidditch blood in you?" Cristo shook his head no. "Well then it looks like its just a case of raw talent. We'll end the lesson here for today, please return your brooms before leaving." Spencer quickly took his broom and went to put it away. On his way to the exit he managed to catch Madam Kwon's eye. "You there! Good job today, remind me of your name?"

 

"Spencer Greylock, miss," he tells her, not sure how to react when she suddenly gasps and steps even closer to him.

 

"Of course," she says. "You look just like her."

 

"Who?" He asks, feeling a tad bit uncomfortable at the sudden closeness.

 

"Your mother," She answers, finally taking a step back. "Forgive me, Spencer, but your mother and I were good friends when we were here at Ilvermorny. She was a Newblood so I taught her almost everythnig she knew about Quidditch but she eventually bested me on several occasions."

 

Spencer blinked back his surprise. "My mom played Quidditch?"

 

"She was a Chaser," She told him. "She could've gone pro had it not been her interest to work for the MACUSA." Lulu never told Spencer that, so it made him wonder if she had known at all. She also never mentioned Madam Kwon being friends with his mother, but she never mentioned anyone being mom's friend beside's Mr. Tsoshie. He wanted to know more, to learn about who his mother is, but he was awfully hungry so he said his goodbyes and begun making his way to the great hall when he saw Cristo walking as well. The other male was walking away from the two players of Horned Serpent's team. They must have stopped him when they were all putting their things away.

 

"Hey Cristo!" Spencer calls out, jogging to catch up to the other male. "Were you just talking to the captain of Horned Serpent's team?"

 

Cristo nodded. "Yeah, he was saying what a good job I did for my first time flying. He introduced me to-" Cristo stopped talking as chorus of laughter reached their ears. They turned the corner to see that the laughter belonged to Dario and his two friends, Garrett and Valmiki, as they tossed around a bag belonging to first year Pukwudgie, Astrid Scurry, who was the shortest person in their year. She tried desperately to grab her bag back but Dario and Valmiki's reach was way passed hers. Seeing her face tear up, Spencer was reminded of Mateo when Dalbert would pick on him. It ignited something hot in Spencer's chest and he wasted no time in coming in between the three boys, snatching the bag out of Dario's hands.

 

"Leave her alone," He hissed. Dario was furious, clearly still not over their incident at the train.

 

"I thought I told you to stay away from me?" He demanded. Behind him, Garrett start rubbing his knuckles. "Let's teach him the hard way, Dario."

 

Spencer handed Astrid her bag back and stayed put as she ran off. He felt Cristo next to him, ready to help out in anyway he could. It would be three against two and although their heart is in the right place, there was no way they were going to get out of this ok. Dario quickly grabbed Spencer by his robes and slammed him into the wall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Cristo struggling as Garrett put him in a headlock as Valmiki grabbed his legs.

 

"I don't care who your friends are," Dario tells him, probably referring to Mara and her siblings. "When I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it."

 

Spencer didn't bother stopping the grin on his face. "I don't know," He says. "The way your knees were shaking when Mara showed up told otherwise."

 

Dario's nostrils flared up as he frowned. "Piece of shi-"

 

"Enough, all of you!" Suddenly Dario was pulled back a strong, twinkling force of blue. Valmiki and Garrett were being held up by the same magical force. Out of the shadows appeared William, his fingertips sparkling the same blue tinge. "What's the story?"

 

Dario tried struggling free from William's magical hold, but didn't budge at all. "He started it!" His friends were quick to shout their agreements.

 

"That question wasn't directed to you three," He says, turning to look at Spencer and Cristo. "What's the story?"

 

"They were picking on a girl," Spencer says. "Her name is Astrid."

 

"Ah, Ms. Scurry. She's in my house." William says, turning to look at the boys suspended in the air. "If I were you three, I would prepare for the longest weekend of your life. I'll be sure to tell Professor Murphy what went on here." All of their eyes widened, obviously afraid of their Head of House, and ran off once William released his hold. The old Pukwudgie was still looking at Cristo and Spencer, studying them like he had no idea what to do with them. "So you two helped a girl that wasn't even in your house?"

 

Spencer and Cristo looked at each other, shocked. "We weren't just going to walk by and do nothing!" Cristo told him, obviously insulted.

 

William continued to stare at them until, finally, he smiled. "Very good."

 

And then he was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update, real life gets pretty crazy sometimes. Please let me know what you all think of the story so far in the comics!


	8. The Black Forest

Spencer adjusted to his new school life fairly well as the weeks passed. He liked most of his teachers, though he still thinks Professor Olson is a bit annoying with his mentioning of Hogwarts every ten minutes. Andrew didn't seem to mind, it actually looked liked it made him work harder in Transfiguration. He was the first out of everyone to turn his mouse into a silver plate, even Professor Olson was impressed.

 

If he had to pick his least favorite class, it'd have to be Astronomy. One reason being how late the class was. Despite most kids his age, Spencer actually liked going to bed at a decent time, and he was quickly known to be very grumpy when he didn't get enough sleep among the other Thunderbird kids. Every Thursday morning he was irritated and it didn't help his attitude that Thursday happened to be his long day. He also hated Astronomy because he had to share it with Dario and his irritating friends. After getting them in trouble with William and Professor Murphy, they were constantly trying to get under his skin in class and often it would work despite Nate's pleas to not let them get to him. It was just salt to the wound that Dario was actually really good at figuring out star patterns and finding out which planets were aligned, when Spencer could barely tell the difference between a star and a plane without the help of a telescope.

 

His favorite class, along with Tiarah's, was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Although he was graded really well with his papers on theories, Spencer was pretty mediocre when it came to actually doing the defensive spells. Professor Murphy was also confused but told him to try focusing more, even though he knew she knew that he was one of the most focused kids in her class. Tiarah picked up things fairly quickly, perfecting a shield charm after just two classes of practice.

 

Everyone else's favorite class was Charms with Professor Medina and Spencer had to admit he enjoyed it too. Professor Medina just always knew how to make class fun. When learning the Levitating Charm, he had the other students try to levitate a feather while he tickled them with his own. He often rewarded whichever student performed the task first and most of the time it was Nate, who's hair would turn a triumphant golden shade of blonde every time. With Halloween fast approaching, Professor Medina proposed a costume contest where he would be rewarding the winner with a basket full of treats. Spencer was making a mental note in his head to call Lulu so she could send him his costume when Nate raised his hand. "Do we have to wear the costume all day?" he asks.

 

Professor Medina seemed to catch on to what Nate was really asking, as he grinned. "You only have to be in the costume long enough for the class to vote," He declares. "Besides, I guarantee Professor Laveau would have a problem with most of your costumes getting in the way of Potions."

 

The rest of October passed in a blur, but not before Spencer and the others witnessed their first Quidditch game between Horned Serpent and Wampus. Watching the sport was the deciding factor on whether or not Spencer would try out for Thunderbird's team next year. It was the most brilliant sport he's ever watched and the game between the two houses was anything but boring. The captain for Horned Serpent, Castor Black, was able to hit a bludger right into one of Wampus' Chaser, Caleb Schneider, several times until the other male was finally swapped out of the game. This didn't go well with his younger brother, Zolton, who was screaming all kinds of cheers for Wampus despite being in Pukwudgie himself. The captain for Wampus, Phillp Donaldson, was going head to head with the Lisa Conway, the Chaser from Horned Serpent that talked to Cristo after their first Flying lesson. They seemed to be competing on who would score the most goals, despite each team having decent Keepers. Eventually it was Horned Serpent who pulled out with the win when their seeker, Kyla Miller, snatched the Snitch with very little resistance from Wampus Seeker, Katie Sparks.

 

Spencer was in such a rush after the game that he asked the others if they wanted to practice flying. Luckily Andrew and Nate felt the same way and the boys spent the rest of their Saturday afternoon on the Quidditch pitch until they had to clean up before dinner.

 

With Halloween falling on a Monday this year, celebrations were being held the weekend before. Ilvermorny town was open for all students to visit to go trick or treating and a Halloween dance was being held for fourth years and up. That Friday, during lunch, all the Thunderbird first years quickly ate their food so they could rush to their dorms and change into their costumes for Professor Medina's contest. It wasn't until Spencer was in class, already dressed in his impressive Wolverine costume, that he realized he didn't stand a chance.

 

He never stopped to think if there was a thing as magical costumes, and he should've because there were. Karyn showed up in a torn dress but when she took out her wand she mumbled the words "Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo" her dress transformed into an elegant ball gown. No one got the reference except for him and Braden (who also seemed defeated in his Mummy outfit) but were still impressed with the show. Andrew was able to transfigure his backpack into decent sized pixie wings, keeping the straps on as he floated across the room.

 

One by one each student went up. Spencer seemed to be dead last in the voting, seeing as no one knew what he was supposed to be (something Braden's costume had over him) and weren't impressed by the lack of effects. Nate, who had given him a courtesy vote when no one else did, was the last one to go up. He had no type of costume on whatsoever, not even fake vampire teeth. Professor Murphy, however, seemed to know exactly what was going on. "Go ahead, Mr. Lowe," He encouraged.

 

Nate took a deep breath and then shut his eyes closed tightly. For a brief moment it looked like he was concentrating really hard, right before his entire face changed. Everyone stared as Nate's skin seemingly appeared to rot, his right cheek dissolving so that you could see his teeth through the holes. One of his ears looked to be bitten off and he even had one of his eyes dangling down his face, which caused both Andrew and Anastasia to squeal, while Braden kept mentioning he was going to be sick. Nate grinned at all of them, his upper lip splitting in half due to the action, before waving at them with his three-fingered hand. "Been practicing for weeks now," He said.

 

"Well done, Mr. Lowe," Professor Medina says. "Zombies are very rarely chosen as a costume any more, though I can see why. If you don't mind-"

 

"No, problem," Nate said. In a quick moment he's back to his regular, lively self. "It was getting hard to focus, anyway."

 

"Impressive nevertheless," Professor Medina says, turning to the class. "Alright everyone, I'll take everyone's votes before adding my own and then I'll announce the winner." With a flick of his wand Professor Medina had everyone's parchments with the voting results float to his desk. Spencer knew he was out of the running, his only vote belonging to Nate, so he didn't get his hopes up. After a few minutes Professor Medina stood up and smiled. "Alright, third place, who will receive a bag licorice wands, Mr. Celeste!" Everyone clapped as Andrew flew to the front of the class to collect his prize. "In second, earning herself a jar of taffy tadpoles, Ms. Floretta!" Karyn walked to the front as well, although she seemed to be gliding thanks to her gown. "And without further ado, the winner of Professor Medina's Eighth Annual Costume Contest is...Mr. Lowe!"

 

Spencer clapped for his friend as he claimed his prize, a giant basket filled with all sorts of candy. As if Professor Medina couldn't be anymore awesome, he released the class early and Spencer joined Nate, Andrew, and Tiarah to a spot in the courtyard to snack on Andrew and Nate's winnings. Tiarah was halfway through her chocolate frog when she turned to Nate. "I was wondering why your hair has been strangely normal these passed couple of weeks, you've practiced controlling your Metamorphing better!"

 

Nate was all smiles, only his roots showing off a shy peach color in his, otherwise, brown hair. "Yeah, Gabby's been helping me. She was able to make her skin like Professor Holloway." Spencer nodded, picturing Nate's sister sporting pink skin to compliment her golden brown eyes. After everyone else got released from class, they got up to meet with Cristo before getting on one of the carriages heading to Ilvermorny Town for trick or treating.

 

"I swear next year we're going to have to come up with a way better costume," Cristo whispers to him, wearing a pirate outfit that was mocked when everyone realized he didn't turn his actual hand into a hook. His first time in Ilvermorny Town was wonderful, especially on Halloween. Spooky music seemed to be playing out of nowhere until they ran into Madam Valora, owner of the pub _Lagoon's Keep_ , which rested right next to the giant lagoon, it's waters sparkling under the full moon's light. At the opposite end of the lagoon was where the Black Forest seemed to end, a river streaming out of it and into the lagoon. Madam Valora was an old witch who was running a pumpkin dance off in front of her pub, serving free Butterbeer to all the students. Mara and her friends were there, munching on some dragon crisps as they watched the on going dance battles. Spencer and the others entered but no one was surprised when Nate's pumpkin stole the show with its killer dance moves.

 

After that they went trick or treating across the town until they were told to return to the carriages. Once back in school they headed to the great hall for the Halloween feast, which ended early so that all students third year and below were dismissed for the dance. Tyler and Braden tried to convince Nate to turn into one of the older kids so he could join the party, but stopped when Andrew reminded them that William and Professor Murphy were among of the chaperones. Instead they all just changed out of their costumes and into their sleepwear before calling it a night.

 

Spencer thought he was dreaming when he thought he heard something whispering but when he woke up, still the dead of night, he could hear something talking outside his open window. He got out of bed, careful not to wake any of the others, and looked out his window, which overlooked the vast amount of trees that made up the Black Forest.

 

_The heir is restricted,_ he heard it whisper. It seemed to be traveling along with the breeze as it brushed passed all the trees. _The heir will find their power on the grounds of Ilvermorny._

 

Spencer's never really been the brave type but it seems he had too much butterbeer and pomegranate ladybugs because before he knew it he was slipping on a pair of boots and grabbing his wand. With one last look at Andrew's sleeping figure, he slipped out of the dorm and outside the school grounds. It was a tricky thing to do, with some of the Pukwudgie patrolling the halls but with music coming from the Great Hall, Spencer realized that the dance for the older kids was still going on. It seemed the Pukwudgie were too busy pulling couples out of the bushes to focus on him. He snickered to himself when he saw that one of the couples was Aha, one of the triplets, and an older Pukwudgie girl. Aha was all smiles like always, even if this time he had the girl's lipstick all over his face.

 

He made it to the edge of the forest, stopping only to try to listen for the voice again. When he didn't hear anything he took one last glance of the castle and the proceeded into the forest. " _Lumos_ ," he whispered, smiling to himself when the tip of his wand grew bright. It wasn't as bright as Nate's was in class when Professor Medina taught them the incantation, but it definitely made a difference.

 

The Black Forest was larger than he expected, and with no sense of where to go, he figured he should just go to the area overlooked by Thunderbird's tower. He was hearing all kinds of noises; birds chirping, toads croaking, and bugs buzzing, but he couldn't hear the voice again. He didn't know how long he was walking but when he looked up he realized that he had gone so deep into the forest that he could no longer see the night sky. He figured he should turn back, but he didn't know which direction that would be in. He could feel himself starting to panic, just as more unfamiliar noises started to screech in the forest. He cursed himself for not bringing his globe. It would have reception out here and he could send an owl message to Tyler or Tiarah, the only other first years in his house that had one. They'd most likely be asleep, but if Spencer switched the message to urgent, the sound from the globe would be loud enough to wake everyone in the room. He could even look up a map and get out without any help, but all these options were useless when he didn't have the object in his possession.

 

Something shifted in the air while he was in his thoughts. The dark forest had always been giving out these creepy vibes, but now these vibes seemed more real. More dangerous. Spencer looked around at the darkness surrounding him. It felt like something was watching him, something hiding in the dark. His eyes moved to what he thought was a large shadow moving towards him, but when he couldn't hear anything he feared his mind was playing tricks on him.

 

He hears his a twig snap behind him and he quickly raises turns around and raises his wand to defend himself. Before he can even mutter a spell Professor Murphy taught him, his wand is out of his hands, flying away into the darkness. Then two tree roots shoot up from the ground and wrap around his wrists, bringing him down harshly to his knees. He yells out, hoping he's not too far so that someone-anyone- can hear him, but then the roots release their grip on him and he quickly brings his arms to his chest.

 

Yuma is standing in front of him, his tall appearance impressive as ever as he looks down at him. Spencer debates whether or not to say something when Mara suddenly appears behind her eldest brother, her eyes widening when she sees him.

 

"Holy shit, Spencer what are you doing out here?" she demands, rushing over to him. Spencer lets her help him off the ground, rubbing his wrists as she frantically dusts off the dirt from his clothes. "I could've really hurt you with that spell!"

 

Spencer didn't know how to take that bit of news. "You were the one that attacked me?"

 

"I didn't know it was you!" She defended. "What are you even doing out here?"

 

"I heard voices," he tells them, watching as they exchange glances. "What were you two doing out here?" Mara opens her mouth to answer, but nothing comes out. Spencer noticed that her face is a little flush, like she'd been angry or something.

 

"William alerted me that a student had wandered off into the forest," Yuma answers, his deep voice full of conviction. "It's not too smart to enter the forest alone so along the way I saw Mara and asked her to come with me. As you can tell, she comes in handy in these kinds of situations."

 

Mara shrugs, but Spencer knows she's proud of her skills. "Professor Murphy has me in Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts. Something my brothers wished they could do."

 

Yuma looks as if he wants to stun her himself, but instead just rolls his eyes. "Come on, let's head back. It's getting really late," he says. He flicks his wand and catches Spencer's as it zooms into his hands. He hands it to Spencer before taking point and walking through the dark trees.

 

"Thanks," Spencer mumbles, following behind Mara. He's honestly not sure if he believes Yuma's story. If William was the one to notice a student going into the forest, he could have easily went in and gotten him himself. To Spencer's knowledge, a Pukwudgie is really powerful when it wants to be and it seemed they were more powerful the older they looked. And William looked very old.

 

They were back to the school grounds in no time and Yuma didn't even need to use an Owl's Globe to get them back. They walked in silence, except for Yuma informing him that he would have to tell Professor Tsoshie that he was wandering around in the forest. He felt dread about whatever punishment was about to come his way but then Mara nudged him. "Don't worry. My grandma tends to go easy on first offenders. Just try to stay clear of that place, ok?"

 

"Ok," He agrees. They're just about to enter the halls when a loud, terrified, shriek comes from the forest. Spencer flinches at the sound and quickly looks in that direction. "What was that?"

 

Yuma glances at the Black Forest, almost as if he's studying it. "Something's getting eaten," he answers.

 

He never wants to go in that forest again.


	9. The Endless Caves

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Spencer stays at Ilvermorny for Thanksgiving break where he and Cristo discover something in need of their help and learns who was one of the first victims of the Masked Shadow.

Mara was right, Professor Tsoshie did cut him some slack for wandering off into the Black Forest after visiting hours. She seemed to be studying him when he told her about hearing voices, which was odd since the old woman was blind. Still, she ended up just lecturing him on the dangers of the forest before having him continue with his day.

 

The next couple of weeks went by relatively fast, and soon they were already on their last week before Thanksgiving break but everyone in the Thunderbird house was more excited for the Friday evening after classes were done. It was Thunderbird's first Quidditch match of the season versus Pukwudgie, despite the ridiculous weather that came out of nowhere earlier Friday morning. Andrew was worried about the school cancelling the game but Mara reassured them that Madam Kwon would do no such thing.

 

"We represent the bird of thunderstorms," she had said. "Running off the pitch with our tails between our legs just isn't an option!"

 

So now Spencer was heading to the stadium huddled under an umbrella he shared with Nate, while Andrew and Tiarah shared another one. They followed the crowd until they broke off to their seats in the stands. Cristo was already there, with no umbrella but a raincoat, and was waving them over. He was small enough to squeeze in with Andrew and Tiarah and he leaned over them to smile at Spencer.

 

"Is it true you're not going home for the holidays?" He asks, shouting over the wind.

 

Spencer nods. "My family doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving," He says. Even though Lulu and him grew up 'Americanized,' even his parents agreed that Thanksgiving wasn't something they needed to celebrate.

 

"Cool." Cristo is all smiles. "My mom couldn't afford to fly me home, so looks like I'll be keeping you company."

 

Spencer smiles too. "Sounds like a plan." He was happy to know he'd have a friend to hang with this week. All the first years in his house-including Tiarah, Nate, and Andrew-would be gone. Andrew offered to have Spencer over as a guest but he kindly rejected with the image of him sitting awkwardly with Andrew's family as they prayed over a cooked turkey.

 

"Good evening, Ilvermorny!" A male's voice boomed as if speaking into a microphone. "My name is Bennett Setiono and I'll be your commentator for today's game as Pukwudgie take on the Thunderbird's!" Spencer joined the crowd of Thunderbirds as they cheered, obviously trying to be louder than the Pukwudgie students on the other side of the field. "As a Thunderbird myself I just wanna say how incredibly fortunate it is for this AWESOME weather we're having. I'd be worried if I was a Pukwudgie, I mean we've all seen what William looks like when he's wet!" Laughter spread through the crowd and even some whistles.

 

"Now before Professor Olson comes down on me and compares me to every commentator that Hogwarts has ever produced, let's introduce the teams!" The crowd cheered as the stadium doors from both sides opened and the teams flew out. It was a bit hard to make out their shapes, but Bennett announcing their names as they did a lap definitely helped. He was able to pick out Yuma, Mara, and Gabby.

 

Spencer nudged Nate, who was nervously watching his older sister. "How was she this morning?"

 

"She seemed fine," Nate said. "But I didn't see her after the rain started. I don't think she's ever played in weather like this before."

 

"She'll be fine," Tiarah encourages, shaking Nate's shoulder. "I heard her telling some of the older girls that she just doesn't wanna lose focus and accidentally turn her hair orange."

 

"That'll make her an easy target," Andrew adds. Spencer and Tiarah both glare at him as Nate starts panicking between them. Madam Kwon blows her whistle then, throwing the quaffle into the air, announcing the start of the game.

 

"And they're off!" Bennett announces. "Mara takes control of the quaffle no problem, tossing it to big sister, Halona, who just barely manages to miss a bludger sent by Deena Saunders. Halona passes it to Aha, who throws it back to Mara! She avoids Pukwudgie captain, Melosia, and now has nothing stopping her from taking a shot. She takes the shot. TEN POINTS FOR THUNDERBIRD!

 

Spencer cheers with the crowd again but is glad that Bennett seems to have perfect vision commentating the game. He can barely tell what's going on with how fast the players are going in the rain. Pukwudgie isn't a bad team, obviously, but they clearly don't compare to Thunderbird. Their Chasers keep getting more and more upset as they consistently fail to make a goal on Yuma and their Keeper, Josefa Molina, can't seem to recover from the assault that's Halona, Aha, and Mara. The scores 90 to 0 in the blink of an eye and it appears that Thunderbird isn't giving up their momentum. The only one who isn't really getting the flow of things, unfortunately, is Gabby. It's not that she's bad, because she's not, but it's clear she's the new girl on the team. Twice she doesn't hit the bludger hard enough, which could have resulted in Pukwudgie scoring if it weren't for Yuma blocking every attempt. Ahiga didn't look too happy about Gabby's mess ups but that could also be because Ahiga never looks happy.

 

It feels great watching his house dominating the game like this, even if the winds begin to pick up. Spencer's head is one of the few that tears away from match to look up at the sky when thunder starts to sound. His breath catches when he sees a small shadow zip passed the dark clouds but when he wipes his eyes from the falling rain it's gone.

 

The thunder gets louder and louder and without any warning Pukwudgie Chaser, Rodrigo Velasquez, gets hit by lightning, his broom immediately bursting into flames. The fifth year begins to panic and either can't hear Madam Kwon's instructions or simply won't listen because he's panicking. He leaps off his broom and lands onto the nearest player, Mara. Mara didn't expect this action and steers her broom directly into the ground. The crowd unanimously groans when they make impact.

 

"That's gotta hurt, ladies and gentlemen," Bennett announces. "But the game continues with Aha taking control of the quaffle and-wait a second! What's McGowan holding up?" Spencer looks over at Olive, who's fist is proudly in the air. Spencer's hopes are confirmed when Madam Kwon blows her whistle, ending the game. Bennett's voice barely manages to be heard over the cheers of Thunderbird. "Olive McGowan caught the snitch, Thunderbird wins the match!"

 

"WAY TO GO, GABBY!" Nate shouts. Spencer and the others join in on the cheering when Gabby passes for her victory lap. Spencer's still clapping when his eyes dart down to the field, just as Mara shoves Rodrigo.

 

Bennett must've noticed this as well because he's back on the microphone. "Oh it looks like our resident rebel, Mara, has got a few things she'd like to get off her chest with Rodrigo. Bet this isn't the first time he's gotten a lady upset we all remember what happened last year at the-" He's cut off before he could finish, probably by an irritated Professor Olson. No one can hear what was being said on the field but if body language meant anything, Mara was really upset.

 

Suddenly the entire stadium starts to shake and more lightning strikes out, a few actually hitting the ground. A lot of the first and second years scream but Spencer continues to look at the conflict between Mara and Rodrigo. Her siblings are there now, the triplets pulling a confused Rodrigo away while Yuma grabs Mara by the shoulders. More lightning strikes and William and the other pukwudgies are now escorting the children back to the castle. Spencer is getting up from his seat when he looks up and sees the shadow moving in the sky again, only this time it seems to drop directly in the Black Forest, a few trees ruffling at the impact. When Spencer turns around he sees Cristo looking at the same direction.

 

"Did you see that?" He asks. Cristo nods his head, still looking at the Black Forest.

 

"Are you guys coming?" Nate asks. He didn't see what just happened, and neither did Tiarah and Andrew. Spencer wasn't really up to trying to explain so he just hands Nate his umbrella and grabs Cristo by the wrist.

 

"We'll be back," He tells them. "Cover for us!" He leaves before the others could protest, Cristo silently following him. They reach the forest and stop just at the clearing. Even though it's still daylight hours, the storm made everything darker than the night on Halloween when Spencer first went in the forest. He takes out his wand and turns to Cristo. "Ready?"

 

Cristo takes his wand out as well. "Let's go." They head into the forest, their wands lighting the way. This time Spencer has his globe on him, so no matter how lost they get, he'd be able to get them out. It seems the deeper they go, the drier it gets. The tree's brush is so thick that only droplets hit them from time to time. "Where do you think it landed?" Cristo asks.

 

"I have no idea," He replies. He's not even sure if it's smart to be looking for something that just fell out of the sky, but here he was. They turn around one of the larger trees and see a path of broken twigs and branches. "Let's follow it."

 

"Wait." Cristo grabs his arm. "How good are you in Defense Against the Dark Arts?"

 

"In theory, I'm brilliant," Spencer responds, figuring there's no point in lying. "But I'm just ok when it comes to performing the spells. You?"

 

Cristo makes a face. "Professor Murphy warned me to never put myself at risk in the near future. Says I'd more than likely injure myself before whatever I'm defending myself against does."

 

Spencer laughs at that. "That's comforting." They keep walking until they start hearing a soft song-like cry. It makes him feel incredibly sad. Instinctively the boys scoot closer together, but Spencer doesn't feel afraid. He almost feels like he recognizes the cry, but he can't put his finger on it until they're right in front of the creature responsible. A young thunderbird is crumbled on the ground, it soft cries echoing through the forest before lowering its head to nip at its ruffled feathers.

 

"It's hurt." Spencer notices that one of it's four wings is bleeding badly and the other is bent in a way that seems unnatural for a bird. There's also a few gashes across it's body as well as a burn mark, making it clear something attacked it. The bird notices Spencer but doesn't react until Criso comes into view. It starts to panic, flapping it's wings despite two of them being injured. Up above the trees, thunder can be heard.

 

"We have to help it," Cristo whispers. He takes out his wand and points it to the forest. " _Accio_ _Melonberry_!" A reddish-purple fruit the size of a melon flies into Cristo's hands before he starts to approach the bird carefully. Like his cat, Monsoon, the bird seems to register quickly that Cristo means no harm and actually closes the distance itself as it begins to tear into the fruit.

 

"How'd you know about the melonberries?" Spencer asks. He walks up to Cristo feeding the bird. Again, the thunderbird notices him but doesn't react like it's afraid of him.

 

"Professor Medina," He answers. "He told our house that the Black Forest is known to have the best melonberries on this side of the country." He takes his eyes off the bird to scan the forest. "We need to move it."

 

"What for?" Spencer asks.

 

"It's been making a lot of noise, which is bound to attract the attention of some of the predators that live in the forest."

 

"So, what, we take it back to the castle?"

 

Cristo shakes his head, pointing to the burn on the bird's side. "It's obvious a human did this to it, it'll be terrified of anyone that gets near it."

 

"It's not scared of us," Spencer points out. "How do you know it'll be scared of the others?" He really thought one of the Professors could help, maybe the Professor that taught Care for Magical Creatures. He figured any of them would be better helping the bird than two first years.

 

Cristo looked at him. "Trust me, I know." As much as he thought it was a bad idea, Spencer didn't want to argue with Cristo when his eyes were determined like that. Instead he just lets out sigh and asks where they should move it. Cristo looks around before nodding to the caves in the mountain. "Over there, the caves will give it shelter."

 

"The endless caves are forbidden," Spencer reminds him. "What is we get lost?"

 

"We can't get lost when we have your globe," Cristo points out. "How good is your Levitating Charm?"

 

"A little shaky but if you do it too I should be fine," Spencer tells him. He really doesn't get why spells are so difficult for him, especially when he knows exactly what he should be doing. The boys take out their wands and point it at the thunderbird.

 

" _Wingardium Leviosa_ ," Cristo chants.

 

" _Wingardium Leviosa_." The creature stirs uncomfortably at first but calms down once it starts levitating up into the air, where it probably feels comfortable. Cristo leads them to the caves, which look like a bunch of tunnels dug deep into the mountain. More tunnels lead to even more tunnels, making it impossible to know exactly how many caves there were after about a hundred. Spencer follows Cristo, the bird floating between them, as he goes through several tunnels. When one of the caves finally reaches a dead end, Cristo stops. It's spacious almost like it was made for holding the bird in it.

 

"Here should be good," He says. They lower the bird down and watch as it starts to nestle next to the rock wall. It's eyelids start to blink slowly and soon it falls asleep.

 

"Now what?" Spencer asks, observing the bird in his dreams.

 

"We look after it," Cristo announces. When Spencer doesn't return his enthusiasm he keeps going. "What? It makes perfect sense. It's during the holiday so it'll be easier to slip away from the school without anyone noticing. Thunderbirds are very paranoid creatures, the fact that this one isn't fighting us means it trusts us. It has to be us!"

 

The bird was surprisingly calm with the two of them, despite showing a little fright with Cristo when he first appeared. It hadn't tried to fight them off once and now was literally asleep without a worry in the world. "We don't know anything about healing magical creatures!" He tries to argue.

 

"So we learn as we go," Cristo replies. "The library is still open during the break. I'll head over there tomorrow to see what books I can find on Thunderbirds and on healing magical creatures."

 

Spencer lets out another sigh as he runs his hand through his hair. He almost wants to tell Cristo no, and that they should go find Headmistress Hazazi but he doesn't. It can't be a coincidence that he would stumble on the one creature that frequents his dreams AND that represents the house he was sorted into. There was something in the bird's song that resonated in him. Almost like how his mother's wand made him feel. "Alright," He finally gives in. Cristo yells out happily and starts jumping, causing the bird to startle awake. It calms when it sees it's just the two of them but doesn't go back to sleep.

 

"We should probably head back then," Cristo says. "The others are going to wonder where we went."

 

"OK," Spencer agrees. "What if it gets hungry while we're gone?" As if to answer his question, several little dots of purple light start to shine through the cave walls, illuminating the space to the point that they didn't need to use their wands anymore. Spencer looked closer at the dots to see that they were moving.

 

"They're bugs," Cristo studies, letting one crawl onto his finger. The thunderbird begins to snap it's beak at Cristo until he walks to it and offers it the bug. The bird eats it before limping to a wall with the most accessible bugs and begins to munch away. "Well that solves that dilemma." Cristo glances at him. "Get us out of here?"

 

"Right," Spencer mumbles, taking out his globe. Panic sets in when the globe doesn't turn on. "I thought its supposed to work anywhere?!" He should've known that his globe wouldn't have worked in the caves and now him and Cristo were stuck in here forever. Cristo didn't share his same dread, simply just started walking forward. Spencer was quick by his side and both of them were clearly shocked when the forest was in plain view after one curve through the tunnels.

 

"I knew I heard bird's chirping," Cristo mumbles.

 

"How did we make it out so fast, we must have been walking in there for an hour, at least," Spencer says. Cristo shrugs his shoulders. They make it out of the forest, greeted by clear skies as the sun starts to set.

 

"The thunderbird must have been the reason for the storm," Cristo explains as they head to the main hall for dinner. "And it was probably so bad because it was injured."

 

"Definitely," Spencer agrees, too exhausted by today's events to give it too much thought. They reach the main hall and before they go to their separate tables Spencer turns to Cristo. "Think you can stop by the library during breakfast? That way we can visit it after we say goodbye to the others."

 

"Good thinking," Cristo says. "See you tomorrow Spencer."

 

The next morning Spencer had breakfast with Tiarah, Nate, and Andrew before walking down with the to the front of the grounds. Instead of Pukwudgies using their magic to transport them to Ilvermorny Town, carriages were ready for all the kids going home for the break.

 

"Try to practice on your flying," Andrew reminds him. "I know it's holiday but we can't be lazy if we want to make the team next year." Playing quidditch was the biggest goal the boys had for their second year. However, it was Andrew who pointed out that there would only be two spots open after Yuma and Olive graduated. He also pointed out that maybe Gabby could get replaced, but changed the subject when he saw Nate's hair turn slightly green with guilt.

 

"Or you can practice your defensive spells," Tiarah adds, having no interest in quidditch.

 

"Or I can actually act like I'm on a break from school," Spencer teases. They all laugh with him before hugging him goodbye and getting in their carriage. He stands and watches it until it disappears around the curve of the road before heading back to the castle. Cristo is waiting for him on the front steps with a bag of supplies over his shoulders. He's still unsure if they should be doing all of this in secret but he made a promise to Cristo that he would, so he follows the other boy into the forest.

 

They pick of a few melonberries before they enter the cave, which Cristo seems to be able to maneuver despite the winding path it takes to reach the particular cave that holds the thunderbird. Spencer decides not to question it, he'd honestly rather not know. The thunderbird seems not to have move much but raises its head at their arrival. Spencer starts feeding it some of the melonberries while Cristo carefully bandages it's wing.

 

"I got these from the library," He says, handing a few books to Spencer. _Thunderbirds: America's True Pride_ by Newt Scamander seems to have everything they need to know about thunderbirds while _A Healer's Guide to Magical Creatures_ and _Basic Remedies for the Beginner Wizard_ cover all the basics on treating some of the thunderbird's wounds. They're able to figure out the thunderbird is a male and Cristo insists on naming it so they start tossing out names to see which one ends up fitting.

 

"What about Silver?" Spencer suggests.

 

Cristo gives him a look. "Why, because of his feathers?" He asks, petting the silvery feathers. When Spencer just shrugs his shoulders, Cristo looks back at the bird. Finally, he grins. "Silver it is."

 

The boys break into a routine during the break. They visit Silver once during the day and once during the evening before dinner. They treat his wounds as best they can and continue to feed him melonberries and the purple bugs in the cave. They manage to avoid faculty and pukwudgies alike but it's on Thanksgiving evening when a voice calls out to them as they head to the forest. Spencer turns around to see Mara approaching them.

 

"Still messing around in the forest, huh?" Mara observes. "At least you're going during the day."

 

"We're working on a Potion that has ingredients found in the forest," Spencer lies, although its one him and Cristo have been practicing.

 

"Alright, just try to remember we're on break you know," She teases. "Anyways my dad ran into Lulu and she mentioned you guys don't celebrate the holiday either?" Spencer shook his head. "Well my grandma has us all on her own traditions so feel free to join us for dinner tonight. You can come too, Cristo, friends are welcomed."

 

"Thanks, Mara." Spencer can already feel the butterflies growing in his stomach. "We'll be there."

 

"Cool." Mara waves goodbye and walks away. Spencer tries to avoid Cristo's knowing stare as they tend to Silver. It isn't until they're heading to the main hall that he finally gives up. "If you stare any longer I might practice my Stunning Spell."

 

"Tiarah can't even do that spell yet," Cristo points out. "So I know you can't."

 

This annoys Spencer a little bit, but mainly because it's true. "Stop looking at me then."

 

"It's ok if you like Mara, all the boys in our grade like her," He say. "Well, except for Andrew because he likes boys but-"

 

"Do you like her?" He accuses. Cristo rolls his eyes.

 

"Don't worry, lover boy, she's all yours." They enter the hall where the Thunderbird table is being set up by a bunch of pukwudgies and Professor Tsoshie. Cristo greets fellow Horned Serpent first year, Omorose Omari and invites her to sit with them. She explains that her family moved to America from Egypt a few years ago so they didn't really celebrate Thanksgiving either. Cristo admits his family does but really as an excuse to make a bunch of food.

 

"If you tried my grandmother's _arroz con pollo_ you'd be willing to give thanks every day of the week," He says.

 

Mara enters the hall and smiles at Spencer and sits down next to him. "Glad you could make it," she says. He feels like he should say something but before he can open his mouth her attention turns to the three students who have joined her. They're all in her year but only one, Luka Hammond, is in their house. He recognizes Melosia Aguilar as the team captain for Pukwudgie and the other is Alexander Knight, who is a Beater for Wampus. They immediately start talking about quidditch and how this is Melosia's first year as captain.

 

"You two have a lot to say but we'll see if you're still talking when you're both captains," Melosia retorts. Luka's eyes widen as he turns to Mara.

 

"Yuma said he's making you captain?" He asks. Mara digs her elbow into his side.

 

"Quiet the triplets are coming," she says. Spencer looks to see Aha, Ahiga, and Halona joining the table, followed by Yuma and Olive coming hand in hand. Ahiga doesn't seem to be pleased as he looks from Cristo and Omorose to Melosia and Alexander but says nothing as he takes the farthest seat away from them. Halona says hi to everyone and introduces herself to those she doesn't know and instantly becomes Spencer's favorite triplet. Aha, on the other hand, is right in Mara's face.

 

"Why are you fratenizing with the enemy?" He teasingly demands. He juts out a thumb towards Melosia and Alexander. "I mean I don't mind Pukwudgie since we crushed them last Friday-"

 

"Bite me," Melosia snaps.

 

"But we play Wampus in March. We shouldn't be seen fraternizing with them until the match."

 

"Is that so?" Mara asks, clearly amused. "Didn't stop you from shoving your tongue down Carly Kock's throat at the Halloween dance."

 

Aha narrows his eyes, grinning. "Touche little sister, but to be fair she was the one who insisted on using tongue."

 

Mara is now frowning. "I so don't need to here all the details, One."

 

"You're starting to sound like Ahiga," Aha whines.

 

"That's because no one wants to hear about your make out sessions," Ahiga says, his voice surprisingly deep. Everyone laughs but Spencer isn't sure if he meant that as a joke since he didn't laugh with them, just rolled his eyes.

 

"And what about our little guests?" Halona asks, referring to Cristo and Omorose.

 

"Spencer's friends," Mara explains. "This is Omorose-I overheard she's from Egypt, so that's pretty cool-and this is the infamous Cristo." Spencer and Cristo exchange looks of confusion, along with Omorose and Luka, but all the quidditch players were now looking at Cristo with interest.

 

"Castor is so grateful for you," Yuma explains, looking right at Cristo. "He was afraid Lisa was never going to pick a successor until they saw you flying at Madam Kwon's first lesson."

 

"A successor?" Spencer asks, looking at Cristo. "Is that why they were talking to you that one day?"

 

"Probably," Mara answers. "When someone on Horned Serpent graduates, they pick a successor that they'll teach and who will replace them the following year."

 

"But didn't they have tryouts at the beginning of the year?" Spencer asks.

 

"Yeah, but that's mainly for show." Mara looks at Yuma. "Who was it this year, Oscar and Noreen? Yeah they knew they were going to join the team last year. Horned Serpents mainly use tryouts to recruit more reserves for the team. They have the most out of the houses and most successors are chosen from them."

 

"Is what they're doing allowed?" Omorose asks.

 

"Totally allowed," Aha answers.

 

"It's unnecessary," Ahiga mumbles.

 

"But allowed," Halona adds. "Horned Serpent's are just known for planning ahead. You must be really good if Lisa picked you. She's gotten the best of us a few times."

 

"Stop complimenting the enemy, Three!" Aha complains. Everyone laughs before Professor Tsoshie clears her throat. The table has been completely set, with dishes of various food covering every inch of it. Spencer's stomach growls at the sight of it and his mouth waters as the food's smell travels to his nose. Next to Professor Tsoshie is Headmistress Hazazi, who's purple gown and head scarf twinkle in the light every time she shifts.

 

"I just came to show my appreciation," she says, her hand on on Professor Tsoshie's shoulder.

 

"Yes tonight is a night of mourning," the older woman says. "We mourn for our ancestors who had their lands stolen from them. But even as we mourn, we celebrate, because we are still here! We continue to learn, to love, to live, and because we do this, their sacrifices are not reduced to nothing. And we share this with all who are willing to let us," she motions her hand from Cristo, Omorose, Luka, Alexander, and Melosia to Headmistress Hazazi. "We remember. We mourn. We live."

 

Everyone at the table claps their hands as Professor Tsoshie and Headmistress Hazazi hug, before the latter joins the other Professors at the teacher's table. Everyone begins to eat and continue conversation. When dinner's over, Spencer says goodnight to Cristo and Omorose before he walks back to the dorm with Mara and her siblings.

 

"Spencer," Halona calls out. "We never asked if you play quidditch?"

 

"I'm learning," He says, smiling. "My friends and I try to practice a few times a week."

 

"Did your dad never teach you?" Aha asks. Spencer loses his smile. Mara sees this and punches Aha's arm.

 

"You can never shut up can you!" She yells. Spencer almost feels pity for Aha as he rubs his arm and demands to know why Mara even punched him in the first place.

 

"My parents died in a car crash when I was young," Spencer explains. "I was raised like a No-Maj because my older sister thought I'd be a Squib like her." Aha gave a silent 'oh' while Olive and Halona each gave him a look of understanding. Mara was still glaring at Aha and Yuma seemed to be studying him before flicking his eyes to Ahiga.

 

"Don't," He warned his other brother. Ahiga spun around to glare at him.

 

"I'm not going to feel sympathy for the kid so leave me alone!" He shouts. He turns his glare to Spencer. "At least your mom wasn't murdered like ours."

 

"Ahiga!" Yuma yells, rushing forward to yank him by the arm. He drags him away, Olive and the other triplets following suit. He can still hear Yuma and Ahiga arguing even as they turn the corner. Mara is the only one who stays with him.

 

"Sorry about that," Mara says. "Ahiga isn't one for sob stories."

 

"It's fine," He mumbles. They walk in silence for what feels like forever, but he figures she's walking at a slow pace to put space between them and the others. "Is it true? About your mother?" He feels like he shouldn't be asking, but his curiosity got the better of him. The Tsoshie family seemed so perfect, he could never have predicted that a tragedy would ever hit them like this.

 

"Yeah," she finally says. They were entering the common room, hanging there as voices could be heard on the boy's side of the house. "It was after my first year here. She was an Auror, a damn good one. She made some enemies and one of them eventually attacked her in broad daylight. We're still kind of dealing with it."

 

"I'm sorry." Spencer remembers crying when he found out his parents died but he was still pretty young and had plenty of time to heal. He couldn't imagine if he lost Lulu or his grandpa now. The voices suddenly die down and Mara takes that as her cue to leave.

 

"Night, Spencer," she says, heading up the stairs to the girl's hallway.

 

"Mara!" Spencer runs up to the end of the stairs. "Did they catch him? The person who killed your mom?"

 

Mara gave a sad smile and shook her head. "They haven't. The creep's been avoiding authorities ever since." Spencer doesn't stop her when she leaves this time. Instead he goes into his room, not paying attention to the other empty beds as he changes into his sleepwear and gets into his bed. He takes out his globe and looks up Mara's mom, Nina Tsoshie. The first article to come out was the one detailing her death. Not only was she attacked in broad daylight, Yuma had been there as well and was about Mara's age. He was injured shortly after he tried to step in and his mother died protecting him. Spencer's eyes shot open when he read who was the killer, who remained at large.

 

Mara's mom was killed by the Masked Shadow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, thank you for all the support this story has gotten so far! I'd love to hear what you all think so please feel free to leave a comment!


	10. The Duplicate

Once classes started up again, it got more difficult for Spencer and Cristo to sneak to the caves to take care of Silver. Luckily the bird has been improving, one of it's injured wings has completely healed while the other is in the right direction to get to that point. The only wound that didn't seem to be healing in the slightest was the burn across it's chest. They tried a lot of remedies they learned from the books Cristo got at the library but nothing seemed to work. It made Spencer want to get an adult to help but Cristo was stubborn. He would just shove the book on thunderbirds in Spencer's face and have him read aloud the section that highly emphasized how paranoid wild thunderbirds were towards humans.

 

"Maybe this one's different," He would argue. "He acts fine around us."

 

"I have my theories," Cristo would say.

 

"Are you going to share these theories?"

 

"Nope. We can take care of Silver ourselves, stop worrying so much."

 

So when school started, Spencer and Cristo would start sneaking to the caves by themselves. Cristo gets up early to check on Silver before breakfast and Spencer would check on him before dinner. Of course, his disappearance didn't go unnoticed by his friends. Andrew in particularly seemed the most suspicious as to why he seemed to always be disappearing after classes were let out. He never told him why, but when he started ignoring him, Spencer asked Tiarah what was wrong.

 

"It's really dumb," she tells him. "But he thinks you're secretly meeting with the Tsoshie clan to get better at quidditch."

 

"I'm not though," He defends. He hadn't really talked to any of them since the dinner during break, except for Ahiga and Mara. Ahiga had come up to him the next day and mumbled an apology while Mara now talked to him all the time during meals at the hall. He was glad Cristo ate at another table, because he's sure he would get made fun of for the way he blushed every time Mara smiled or laughed at something he said.

 

"Well that's what he thinks," Tiarah tells him. "He really wants to join the team next year and since there isn't that many spots open he's starting to freak out."

 

"That's so dumb." Even if he was training with Mara and her siblings, why would that be wrong? If anything he should be jealous of Andrew, who at least got to practice on his skills over the break. Spencer hasn't been able to do anything like that since he started taking care of Silver. The pair headed into Defense Against the Dark Arts, where Andrew continued to ignore him. It was really starting to bother him and it showed in his work. They were supposed to be perfecting their Shield Spells, but Spencer couldn't even focus enough to answer Professor Murphy's question, which he usually always got right.

 

When class ended, he tried to hurry up and leave with Nate and Tiarah when Professor Murphy called him. "I'd like to have a minute, Mr. Greylock." Spencer's shoulders slumped as he left his friends and followed his teacher to her office. Professor Murphy's office was very much like her, everything was in order and neat. She had a bookcase next to a wall of moving pictures and a small desk which he took a seat in front of. The moving pictures seemed to be from her time as an Auror, as she appeared younger. There was one picture where she was saluting next to an older man with as equally bright red hair as hers, and had the same frown. He couldn't help but notice how familiar the older man looked.

 

"Is this your father, professor?" he asks.

 

Professor Murphy glances at the photo and frowns. "It is. He was Head Auror until a few years ago when he retired." She didn't look too happy to be talking about him, so Spencer didn't press the conversation forward. "I think it's time we talk about your performance in my class."

 

Spencer lets out a sigh. "Ok."

 

"Besides your poor responses today, you and Tiarah are top of your class when it comes to written assignments," Professor tells him, arms crossed as she stares directly at him. "Unlike Miss Piquery, however, you are among the few doing poorly when it comes to actually performing these spells-"

 

"I'm sorry," He says. "I promise I'll practice harder."

 

"Don't interrupt me, Mr. Greylock." Her voice doesn't raise but Spencer shuts his lips tight as if she were yelling. She stares at him for awhile and Spencer wants to sink into his chair. If he doesn't get out soon, he'll be late for Flying lessons and he really needs to practice.

 

Professor Murphy extends her hand. "May I examine your wand?" she asks. Spencer nods and gives her his wand. She's barely gripped it for a moment when she starts shaking her head. "Did you choose this wand? Or is it borrowed?"

 

"Yes," he replies. "I mean, no! Er, it belonged to my mother and I decided to keep it instead of getting a new one."

 

"I knew of your mother. I was a sixth year when she first started Ilvermorny." She continues to examine the wand. "As I was saying earlier, in my days of teaching I'd say the chances of a student knowing how to do a spell perfectly yet executing so lamely is a very rare occurrence."

 

"It wouldn't be the first rare thing to happen to me," He says, referring to the fact that he was the only wizard in almost a hundred year that was selected by all of the houses of the school.

 

She looks at him again. Spencer feels like she's able to hear all his thoughts in just one look. "I don't want you to be upset when I explain this but the statues aren't usually wrong. You're a good student, Spencer, and you're destined to do great things...but your mother's wand is holding you back."

 

Spencer stared back at her disbelief. "What?"

 

"Her wand didn't choose you so it's having trouble keeping up with how fast your advancing in my class. The fact that it must've been inactive after your mother's death doesn't help either."

 

"So what are you saying? I need to get a new wand?"

 

"If you want to grow as a wizard during your time here? Yes." She stands up and Spencer thinks that their meeting is probably over now. Good. He wasn't liking where this conversation was going. He should've just asked her about her father and got kicked out instead. He takes his wand back and starts heading for the door without saying goodbye. He took a little more time than he needed to walk to the quidditch pitch, staring down at the wand in his hands. Like always, he felt as relaxed as he did when he was younger and his mom would rock him back to sleep. He absolutely loved the idea of having something of his mother's with him as he attended Ilvermorny. He was so young when his parents died so he didn't have nearly as many memories as Lulu and grandpa had. He couldn't get rid of it. And as he finally reached the pitch he made a silent deal with the wand that he wasn't going to give it up, they were going to make it work one way or another.

 

"You're late, Mr. Greylock," Madam Kwon announces. All the other first years from Thunderbird and Horned Serpent were already doing laps around the field. He noticed Cristo was leading the pack as always, but this time Andrew was right on his tail. "I'm benching you today."

 

"Seriously?" He whined. "But Professor Murphy had me wait after lessons!"

 

Madam Kwon gave him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry, Spencer. I won't deduct any points but by the time you stretch and do all your necessary workouts we'll be well into the lesson. Just take notes for today."

 

He couldn't believe this was happening to him. Feeling his eyes beginning to sting, Spencer quickly turned away and sat down in the stadium. He wasn't about to let the others see him cry. He noticed Andrew watching him and when they made eye contact the other smirked and flew off to continue Madam Kwon's lessons. Now he wanted to punch someone. And he'd very much like that someone to be Andrew for being a moron. A frown remained on his face the entire lesson. When it ended, Madam Kwon asked him to join her in his office. That made him want to scream but instead he followed her into the tiny room. It was a little messier than Professor Murphy's and it was decorated with all kinds of quidditch posters.

 

"You seemed upset, Spencer. Everything ok?" Madam Kwon asks. Spencer wanted to tell her 'no, everything's not ok because I wanna get better at quidditch but you benched me!' Instead, Spencer actually took a deep breath and explained his meeting with Professor Murphy. He didn't exactly plan to, it just sort of came out like word vomit. Madam Kwon did say she was good friends with his mother, maybe she would understand where he was coming from. When he finished telling her everything she walked over to one of her drawers. Before he could ask what she was doing, she pulled up a chair and sat next to him, handing him a picture.

 

The picture was clearly of her and his mom when they were younger. Madam Kwon was wearing Wampus's scarlet red colors while his mom was wearing dark orange. "My mom was sorted into Pukwudgie?" He asks. Madam Kwon nods and he looks back at the photo. His mom's team was celebrating winning the house cup, it looked like. She was holding the cup in the air and seemed to force Madam Kwon into the picture, who had her arms crossed but smiled anyway.

 

"I remember that day like it was yesterday," Madam Kwon says. "My team was winning 230 to 70 but your mom pulled a fast one on me and scored twice just before her team's Seeker caught the snitch." Spencer looked away from the photo and saw that Madam Kwon was smiling. "I was so heartbroken but your mom wouldn't let me stay upset. She said 'you taught me everything I know, a win for me is a win for you!'"

 

"She sounds like an amazing person."

 

"The absolute best," Madam Kwon agrees, smiling for a brief moment before her face returned to neutral. "There have been students here who had to borrow old wands because they couldn't afford their own. But the school's funds help them get their own wands eventually. I've never heard of a student having a borrowed wand for more than a couple of years."

 

Spencer glanced at his mother's wand in his lap. "So you think I won't be able to grow as a wizard if I keep using her wand?"

 

"I think," she says waiting for Spencer to look her in the eye. "That as long as you have the determination your mother did, you'll do more than fine."

 

That made Spencer smile. It was nice hearing about his mother, knowing that there were people who adored her when she was alive. "How come Lulu and I never saw you around? When she was alive, I mean?"

 

At this, Madam Kwon frowned, taking back the photograph and walking behind her desk to put the photo back where it belonged. "Adults can be silly sometimes."

 

Spencer left Madam Kwon's office even more confused, but at least now it wasn't about what he was going to do with his mother's wand. Did his mom and Madam Kwon get into an argument and stopped talking to each other? These thoughts flooded his mind as he went to check on Silver. The bird had moved on from the glowing insects to small rodents that were unfortunate enough to wonder into it's secluded part of the cave so all Spencer would do is check it's wounds and then give it a melonberry, trying not to lose his lunch at the sight of Silver tearing into it's prey.

 

As he made his way to the main hall for dinner, he expected to be questioned by Tiarah and Nate again. They would probably wonder what's he been up to and he'd have to come up with a lie again. He almost wanted to say Mara was helping him with Quidditch loud enough so Andrew can hear, but the fourth year was eating with her friends so it wouldn't be a lie that anyone would believe.

 

Instead almost everyone had their Owl's globes out and those who didn't have own one were huddled next to someone who did. It wasn't just his table either, every single house table had students of all ages staring at their globes. Instead of taking out his own, Spencer walked over to Tiarah, who was sharing hers with Nate, Gabby, and Braden. "What's happening?" he asked.

 

"The Masked Shadow was spotted again in North Carolina," Nate informs him. "Says he murdered a government official. President's making a speech now."

 

Spencer watched Tiarah's globe as a black man in his sixties appeared on the globe's projected screen. "The MACUSA would like to send out it's sincerest regrets to the family of Henry Buckner, who was tragically murdered by the wanted wizard known as the Masked Shadow. I can assure you that a team of Aurors lead by Rurik Hajek, Head Auror, have been formed to hunt down this wizard and bring him to justice."

 

"Hajek?" Spencer repeats. "Isn't that-"

 

"Yes," Tiarah interrupts. "He's Dario's dad." Spencer steals a glance at the Wampus table, where Dario is watching his own globe smugly. Shortly after, the Heads of the houses arrived and urged all the students to put their globe's away. After dinner, Spencer quickly went back to his dorm and took out his globe for more researching.

 

Ever since he found out Mara's mother had been murdered by the Masked Shadow, Spencer had been looking any kind of article of news blog he could find on the globe's internet. The last article had a photo of Mara and her family at her mom's funeral. Spencer had probably looked at that the photo the most. It was the only time he had ever seen Mara so sad and Ahiga's face was so red and swollen from crying. Yuma's arm was in a cast and Aha looked older than his fraternal siblings as he somberly held onto Halona as she rested on his shoulder. Mr. Tsoshie was holding onto his youngest son, Mukki, and next to him was an older man with bright red hair and a frown that matched only one other person he knew. Even though he's much older in this photograph, this man was clearly Professor Murphy's father.

 

It didn't take long for Spencer to look him up. His full name was Arthgallo Murphy and he had been Head Auror for thirty years before he retired. The reasoning behind his retirement caused a lot of speculation, according to all the articles coming up. Almost a year before he retired, Arthgallo had announced he would be creating a team to go after the Masked Shadow, who had just committed their first kill earlier that year.

 

"My strategy with these criminals has always been a simple one," He said in a clip of his public address. "Take them out before they can pick up any speed. There will be no new Dark Lords rising on my watch."

 

The clip had a list of related articles next to it, one of Arthgallo Murphy announcing his retirement ten months after his announcement to find the Masked Shadow. During this address a witch stood next to him, one he recognized very well in his web searches. She was Mara's mom, Nina. Spencer glanced at the date of the video, it was made days before Nina would go up against the Masked Shadow. Days before she was murdered in front of Yuma. He couldn't help but wonder that the whole thing was too much of a coincidence. He checked the time, realized how late it was, and decided to put his globe away, before Andrew used his lack of sleep as another reason to hate him.

 

.

 

Friday's classes were dismissed for the winter holidays so the quidditch game between Pukwudgie and Horned Serpent was being held after breakfast. With everything packed for the train later tonight, Spencer decided to take Monsoon with him instead of just keeping her in her cage with nothing to do. Once in the Hall he noticed Cristo wasn't at his table so he finished his plate in a hurry to slipped away to the Black Forest. He kept Monsoon in his arms, not sure how well she'd get along with Silver. Once outside the first thing he does is glance up at the cloudy, winter sky. It looks like it'll snow, probably already is back at home.

 

"Spencer!" a familiar voice called out. Spencer turned around and saw Cristo running towards him.

 

"Oh hey, I was just about to head into the forest," Spencer told him. He takes a mental pause and scrunches up his face. "What's wrong with your voice? Sounds a little deeper."

 

"I think I'm coming down with something," He explains, clearing his throat. It doesn't help. "Why were you heading into the forest?"

 

"To find you. Have you fed Silver yet?"

 

The confusion on Cristo's face made Spencer think the other boy had no idea what he was talking about. "Uh, no?"

 

Spencer arched his brow. The other boy is usually very prompt when it comes to taking care of Silver, it's usually Spencer who gets nagged on for forgetting. "Well come on, we gotta stock the cave with enough melonberries to last at least a few days," He explains, already making his way through the trees. "Who knows how he'll get by afterwards though."

 

"Right," Cristo mumbles, twitching at almost every sound that was made in the forest. Spencer had grown used to them, he thought Cristo would've too. They get closer to the caves and Spencer can hear a laughter that he shouldn't be hearing. He glances at Cristo, who goes wide eyed as they make it to the clearing.

 

In front of them is Silver, hovering just slightly in the air to catch a melonberry thrown by a Cristo that is not the one beside him. The Cristo that threw the fruit glances at Spencer and the Cristo next to him and also went wide eyed. Spencer himself starts getting real suspicious and takes a step away from the Cristo beside him. It's obvious that the Cristo playing with Silver is the real Cristo. For one, Silver is already making threatening noises to the impostor Cristo, who didn't seem to know who Silver was earlier. Two, Monsoon really likes Cristo and is currently curling up to the real one. Finally, the impostor is already changing their appearance and within moments, Cristo and Spencer are staring at an embarrassed looking Nate.

 

"I, uh, can explain?" He says sheepishly, running a hand through his natural brown hair.

 

"I didn't know you can change your whole appearance, Nate!" Cristo yelled. He didn't seem upset, no, quite the opposite. He was smiling so hard it seemed to make Silver finally calm down.

 

"Neither did I," Nate confesses. "I'm exhausted, honestly."

 

"Why did you follow me?" Spencer asked.

 

Nate hung his head low. "Andrew asked me too. If I didn't do it he would've just gone to Gabby and I kinda wanted to prove I could pull it off," He explained. "Sorry."

 

"How'd you get my clothes?" Cristo asked. Nate was taller than Cristo so now his ankles and wrists were clearly visible.

 

"He payed Melvin Day to go through your laundry."

 

As Cristo commented on how strange that must've been, Spencer couldn't help but feel incredibly annoyed. "Is he really that paranoid that I'm getting quidditch lessons?!"

 

"Yeah," Nate answered, craning his head to look at Silver. "But at least I can tell him he has nothing to worry about." Spencer and Cristo exchanged a look as Nate admired the bird, who didn't seem to like him. Guess this proved that the bird really did only trust Spencer and Cristo.

 

"Nate, you can't tell anyone about this," Spencer tells him. "The bird gets nervous around people so we've been taking care of it ourselves."

 

"That mark looks pretty bad though," Nate observes, referring to Silver's burn mark. "What are you going to do when you're on break?" Spencer had been asking himself the same question as the days to holiday break got fewer and fewer.

 

"Oh, that's why I've been letting him out of the caves," Cristo answered, scooping Monsoon up into his arms. "It can hunt on it's own now. Although it still can't get very far because it's wing is still wrapped. Silver knows how to return to the cave and everything."

 

Nate stared in amazement. "I can't believe this is what you guys have been doing. Can I help?" Again, Cristo and Spencer shared a look. It was already risky with just the two of them sneaking off, adding another person would just make what they're doing much more complicated. Then again, Nate being a Metamorphagus did give them the element of stealth. Plus, he was incredible at Charms, Spencer was sure that he could help figure out how to heal Silver's wounds better.

 

"Sure, but only once we're back from break," Spencer finally says. "Let's talk about it on the way back. The match is about to start and people will start talking if we're not there."

 

"Plus," Cristo added, petting Silver goodbye with one hand while holding Monsoon with the other. "We should probably get you into your own clothes, Nate."

 

Nate laughed as he squirmed in the too tight sweatshirt. "You've never been so right." The three boys shared a laugh as they made their way back to the castle, looking back once to see Silver heading back to it's cave with a rodent in it's mouth. As they neared the castle, they could hear footsteps crushing the frozen leaves that had fallen on the ground. Spencer glanced at his friends, if Andrew was the one who put Nate up to spying on them, it could be him coming to check for himself. Spencer didn't mind that, actually. It would give him the chance to tell the other boy just how annoying he's been acting.

 

It wasn't Andrew though. Professor Hazazi turned around upon their arrival and smiled. "Good morning, young ones."

 

The boys stood frozen, not knowing what to do. Spencer had to remind himself that they technically hadn't done anything wrong. They were allowed in the forest during daylight hours and today, particularly, they didn't enter the caves. If Professor Hazazi was suspicious by their silence, she didn't show it as she glanced down at Cristo's bag. "Oh, melonberries! They're quite the snack to have during a game of quidditch. I might help myself to one now." She turns around and starts walking away. "Have a nice holiday, boys. Do ask your parents for clothes that fit Mr. Lowe, that sweatshirt looks uncomfortable."

 

Spencer doesn't realize he's holding his breath until he lets it out in a big exhale of relief. Nate's hair was now a light shade of gray. "Good thinking on the melonberries, Cristo," Spencer mumbles.

 

"Well I did bring extra for the match," Cristo admits. "Do you think she thinks we're up to something?"

 

"Don't know," Spencer tells him. The three of them head out of the forest and towards the quidditch pitch, where the cheers from the students have already started. "But if she does think so, we'll probably find out soon after break."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update, life got a little busy for a second! I think I'll be able to wrap this story up in about six chapters and then it's on to second year! Please let me know what you all think in the comments and thank you for supporting the story!


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